Children In Charge 3  All Grown Up
by Pixel and Stephanie Forever
Summary: Three years have passed since Naomi piloted Voyager back to Utopia Planetia. What has happened to everyone since then? When a Starfleet ship, captured by the Dominion reappears, Starfleet calls upon the now legendary Captain Naomi Wildman and her friends
1. Intervening Years

**Intervening Years**

It had been three years since Naomi and her friends had brought the _USS Voyager_ batter, but victorious, to a heroes' welcome. Utopia Planetia had brought the ship back to full operational status, and the ship had spent time doing runs around the solar system and the nearer systems on goodwill tours. She also did a number of trips with children aboard as part of Starfleet's mission to connect with children better. The project leader was a young woman by the name of Marissa Flores. She had been on the _Enterprise-D_ when she was a young girl, and had been trapped in a lift with two other school pupils and Captain Picard. She had refused to abandon him after he had broken his leg, even though he had ordered the children to do so.

After appearing on many subspace talk shows, Naomi and her friends had settled into life on Earth. Icheb had entered the Academy two months after they had arrived on the planet. He was due to graduate with the rank of Lieutenant on the grounds he had served a full year as Naomi's Executive Officer for over a year, so he already had service time. The twins, Azan and Rebi, had gained entry to the greatly revered Vulcan Science Academy, and had graduated with high honours. Mezoti had taken correspondence courses for several Universities around the Federation, and was now a well respected planetary specialist. Naomi, on the other hand, had opted to remain in Starfleet, and this gave her some fun moments when newly minted Captains had to obey her orders by the simple rule she outranked them on service time as a Captain. Once a year, she took the bridge of _Voyager_ and went to Vulcan, picked up the twins and then headed to Bajor for a holiday with Saghi, with whom they had remained good friends after rescuing her from the wrecked ship that had been attacked by a lone Dominion ship towards the end of _Voyager_'s journey home. All six of the group, Naomi, Mezoti, Icheb, the twins and the Doctor had received medals from the Klingon Empire the year after the Dominion War had been won – the advanced Borg weapons they had brought back from the Delta Quadrant (along with other weapons and technologies and advancements of Seven of Nine's) had turned the tide of war. It had ended when the allied peoples of the Alpha Quadrant had disabled each and every Dominion warship and then proceeded to blast the living hell out of them. When the medals had been awarded to the group, Martok, now Klingon Chancellor, had travelled to pick them up personally aboard _Kronos One_ – known to them as the _Rotarran_. With the exception of this, life was pretty normal for all involved.

It was the end of the third year back in the Alpha Quadrant that things took place that brought a crew back together again.

# # # # #

"Is there ever a more beautiful sight?" asked Naomi.

"_I would say _Voyager_ is a more beautiful one_" the Doctor said. The pair were talking on the comm from the Doctor's office at Starfleet Medical. He had got the job of heading the teams going over all of the medical data brought back from the ship's six year trip home. He had spent some time at Jupiter Station with his creator, Dr Zimmerman, for a detailed examination of his programming. He had some changes made to his appearance as his uniform was not the correct style as opposed to the previous version. Whilst there, he had discovered the Mark Two from the _Prometheus_ in the computer files. As the only other EMH to have seen combat, it had been decided to keep the hologram intact when they upgraded to a Mark Three. The Mark Two now worked under the Doctor as his assistant. During the past three years, the Federation had determined that holograms which knew they were holograms, knew their limits and could think and say things not programmed into them were clearly sentient. This led to Dr Zimmerman proposing to loyal and faithful assistant Haley. They had married the previous year, and rumour had it that Zimmerman was now a much happier person.

"Will you be coming over for dinner?" asked Naomi.

"_Assuming I can get this work done before then_" the Doctor said. "_I don't like to start something without finishing it_" and Naomi shook her head with a smile.

"You know the Mark Two will take care of it for you" she told him. "That guy would do anything for you after you saved him from the depths of the computer core" the girl added.

"_I will try to_" the Doctor promised her.

"I could make it an order" Naomi teased him, fingering her collar to show the four pips denoting a Captain's rank.

"_Aye, Ma'am_" the Doctor said with a smile. They talked for a few minutes more before terminating the call.

"How many am I cooking for?" asked Greskrendtregk from the kitchen.

"The normal number" said Naomi. "The twins are getting here in a few hours on a high warp shuttle, and Icheb is beaming over in twenty minutes" and father and daughter started the task of cooking for their extended family. The meal went very well, and everybody caught up with everybody else's latest news. Icheb had only arrived back at the Academy the previous day after being on a training cruise aboard the _Eagle_ – a _Constitution_ class starship of the same type as the _Enterprise-A_. Their sister ship, the _Republic_ had been destroyed at Wolf 359 when the entire senior year of cadets had broke it out of the museum and joined the massacre.

_Chirp Chirp_

"I wonder who that could be" Greskrendtregk said, excusing himself from the table and going to the comm screen in the study. He came back a few minutes later with a message for the Doctor. The Mark Two had accidentally been deactivated by Starfleet Medical's computer, and could he come over and explain what had happened. The Mark Two could get a little grumpy when this happened, and the Doctor was the only one capable of keeping him calmed.

**A/N:**

**Yes, a little short, but it is for an entirely good purpose. A short first chapter allows for a longer chapter 2! At least I have provided some backstory for this fic, and what has happened between the final chapter of CIC2 and the first chapter of CIC3 to the group. Expect a nice Chapter 2 a lot sooner then you think... maybe Saturday or Sunday  
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**I know I said there would be a gap of about a week, but I got a phone call from the tour company saying that it was put back by a week because one of the engines had suffered a main generator flashover. Anybody working with diesel engines in cars or ships will understand that. So at least it is only back a week and not cancelled, plus you get a nice new story to keep you going. I thought I'd do a little bit to start off, but when I looked up discovered I had written over 20,000 words! I've split it up to make five chapters at the moment, with a sixth underway.**

**Next Harry Potter update shall be on the 19****th****, with a little entry into the One Shots collection – and I'm sure it'll be a popular one…**

**Until Then…**

**Robert**


	2. Reuniting Of Old Friends

**Reuniting Of Old Friends**

"NAOMI!" shouted Mezoti.

"Yeah?" Naomi replied, rubbing her eyes as she awoke.

"You've got a call" her friend said. Naomi quickly threw on the previous day's tunic and padded over to her bedroom's comm. She pressed a button and the faces of Admiral Paris and Admiral Nechayev appeared on screen.

"_I hope we did not wake you up_" said Admiral Paris with a smile

"Actually you did" Naomi said.

"_We wish to speak to you as soon as possible_" said Nechayev. "_How soon can you meet us at Starfleet Command?_" she asked.

"I could meet you in about an hour and a half" Naomi said.

"_We'll meet you then, Paris out_" and the link was closed. The girl wondered what she was needed for at Headquarters. She jumped in the water shower, a luxury that they never had had on the ship. After getting out and eating a large breakfast, Naomi had herself beamed over to San Francisco. She passed the security checks and headed up to the offices of Admiral Paris, only to be told he and Nechayev were in the main briefing room. She had to take the distance at a run, took a few seconds to catch her breath and then walked in to see a number of the top brass seated and waiting for her.

# # # # #

"… at short notice" finished Admiral Paris. "The reason you have all been called here is for a particular reason. Several weeks ago, the _Stingray_ took this image from beyond Federation space. Indeed, it is uncharted territory and unclaimed by anyone" and an image appeared on the display screen. A Starfleet vessel was very small in the centre. It was spun up to reveal a _Galaxy_ class vessel entering a dust cloud. "The _Stingray_ did not pursue it into the cloud because of shield damage, but we have managed to get an identification on the vessel. That ship is the _Trigati_" and a murmur shot around the room at the mention of the vessel's name.

"What is so special about that ship?" asked Naomi, raising a hand to gain attention.

"The _Trigati_ was the only one of our ships that ever surrendered to the Dominion during the war" Nechayev told her. "She was still carrying her civilians aboard, and her Captain decided to surrender rather then risk their lives. Surprisingly, they Dominion allowed the civilians leave on the shuttles it was carrying. They interned the crew, but later some escaped by various means"

"We later saw a _Galaxy_ class vessel in places that no Starfleet vessel never should be – behind enemy lines and never shot at. We always figured it was the _Trigati_… When we won the war, all Dominion soldiers, units and vessels were ordered to cease combat operations and surrender to the nearest allied vessel" Paris said. "They also had to give up any captured ships. But the _Trigati_ never obeyed the order and she made off into deep space. We gave chase, but the chase ship had to drop back because of engine trouble. We assume its still being held by a group of rogue Dominion. At the last report, the ship had a full weapons load" and Naomi nodded as she took the information in.

"So what changed?" she asked.

"Just before the _Stingray_ took those images, one of our border posts in the Serris system came under attack by 'a _Galaxy_ class ship refusing to answer hails'. We dispatched the _Stingray_ to investigate but it found the outpost completely destroyed. It spotted the _Trigati_ on sensors and ordered it to heave to and be boarded. It replied by firing several phaser blasts which knocked out the shield generators on the _Stingray_ and then made a beeline for the dust cloud. It used its shields to go through inside and the _Stingray_ couldn't follow because of the shield malfunctions due to damage. It went around the cloud but it did not appear at the other side" Paris said.

"So what am I doing here?" asked Naomi.

"You are one of the few to have traversed gas clouds of this magnitude" Nechayev told her. "There is also the fact that we have very few Captains whom are able to do such an important mission. Most of the people we could think of had all died during the war. The rest are all nearing retirement or have refused the assignment. You, though, are an excellent and most capable commander"

"Thank you, Admiral" Naomi said.

"You are to go to the Serris system and begin an investigation from there" Admiral Paris said. "There is one other related thing you should know about. During the war, we lost a number of other ships. We always presumed them to be destroyed, but it could be that these rogue Dominion have captured them and maybe attempting to repair them for a False Flag operation. We'll provide you with a list of those ships we suspect have been captured. If you encounter any of them, and they take up an aggressive posture, then you are cleared to engage and destroy them if need be. If it is possible to recover them, then you are authorised to do so" and then he gave a small smile. "When we realised that you were our only choice for the job, I had Utopia Planetia bring _Voyager_ to full operational status. We have scouted the fleet for the best possible crew for you to go with your commensurate with tactical and leadership abilities" but Naomi shook her head.

"Thank you, Admiral, but I would have to decline" she said.

"Decline?" Nechayev and the other members of the top brass were astounded by Naomi's refusal of the mission.

"I would not be in line for such a mission without the help of my present crew. I could not in good conscious not accept another mission without them" Naomi said. She and her friends had looked out for each other, and Naomi always referred to them as 'my present crew' because she claimed they were.

"Setting terms?" Paris raised an eyebrow.

"Just respectfully requesting" Naomi said.

"Very well" Nechayev surprisingly agreed. "You must be ready to leave dock in one week. Meet your senior staff at 08:30 here tomorrow morning. We will send you a complete list of all crew members. If there is anybody you wish to replace, then you should have it done quickly" but Naomi said that there was little chance of that happening.

"There is one little matter" said Paris. "I understand that you do not use Captain Janeway's former quarters when you are aboard the _Voyager_"

"That's right, Sir. Being in the quarters I shared with my mother gives me some comfort" Naomi said, and wiped the tears that spilled down her cheeks.

"Very well. I'll issue orders that _Voyager_'s communication system is set to route all messages for the Captain to your old quarters" Admiral Paris said.

"Dismiss" Nechayev put in. Naomi stood from her chair, collected her PADDs, put them into her briefcase and left the briefing room.

"Do you think that was a good idea, Owen?" asked one of the other Admirals.

"A lot of people still take her to be a girl that was merely in charge of _Voyager_ for all those years and months" Paris said. "But she has seen more action and faced more then dangers then most of our currant Captains put together. Besides that, she was in effective command of _Voyager_ for two out of the three years that group was on its own, so don't criticise her abilities" the Admiral added. He would be forever grateful to Naomi for bring back some of his son's ashes for burial – as she had done for the rest of the _Voyager_ crew. He would do everything in his power to ensure that she had everything she would ever want.

# # # # #

"What did they want?" asked Mezoti as Naomi beamed into the house.

"They are sending out _Voyager_ to hunt down some rogue Jem'Hadar and other Dominion assets that refused the surrender orders" Naomi said.

"Well it was nice of them to let you know" her best friend replied.

"Mez, they gave me the centre seat…" and Mezoti squealed and hugged her friend with delight. "I nearly refused it though" Naomi added.

"How so?" asked Greskrendtregk from the doorway.

"They were going to give me a full and proper crew, but I turned them down. I said I couldn't accept command without the help of my present crew" Naomi told her father. It was then that she considered something. "Do you want to come with us?" she asked.

"Ah, little one" her father said, and Naomi made a face at being called little. "I would dearly love to do so, but you know that I can not" he added. Greskrendtregk had been suffering from severe inflamed joints. Whilst he could travel in flitters and shuttles in low Earth orbit, it was decided that until he was cured that he had to stay mainly planet bound – the joint issue being a great trouble for K'tarians.

"We'll write every chance we get" Mezoti told her adoptive father.

"I shall do the same" he assured her.

"I have to meet the rest of the senior staff tomorrow at Headquarters" Naomi said. "Do you want to at least come with me for that?" she asked.

"I would like that very much" he assured her.

"This is just going to be like old times" Mezoti grinned.

"The only truly bad thing is that we have to leave in a week" Naomi said.

"I can finish whatever work that is left over onboard ship" Mezoti replied. "I can transmit it to the Federation Council when I have finished it" and the three of them spent the rest of the day speaking about the upcoming mission. All through the afternoon, the home's comm would chime and the computer would download information and crew details for her review. Knowing that they would most likely have been informed of the events, Mezoti put calls through to Icheb, the twins and the Doctor. Icheb was heading to the transporter with priority clearance within minutes of his call ending. The Doctor left in the middle of a meeting to discuss an outbreak of Tri-Angulem Measles on Parliament. The twins were fortunate in arriving back on Earth after finishing their studies at the Vulcan Science Academy. Within hours of the meeting with Starfleet, Naomi and her loyal friends sat around the table drinking tea, coffee and sandwiches as they went through all of the information that had been and was _being_ sent to them almost every half hour. It seemed that Admiral Paris was being true to his word, and three cargo ships had been called back to Spacedock because they carried essential supplies needed for _Voyager_'s mission. The work had been going on even whilst the ship had been ferried over from Utopia Planetia to the giant orbital Starbase – for the reason it was easier to transfer cargos up to the ship.

# # # # #

"Good Morning" Naomi said to her senior officers. "First of all I want to thank you for getting here this morning. Next off, I understand that it is going to be difficult taking orders from somebody who has not gone through the Academy and risen up the ranks. However, Starfleet Command has chosen to place me in command of _Voyager _and we shall not question their decisions. The reason we are taking it out is because we are going starship hunting. Several weeks ago, one of the border and monitoring posts in the Serris System was attacked and destroyed. The _USS Stingray_ was dispatched to assist, but it was too late. The attacking starship fired several shots at the _Stingray_ which damaged and disabled its shield generators. It gave chase from Serris, but the attacking ship vanished into the Vesuvi Dust Cloud" and one of the officers from Security raised his hand to which Naomi acknowledged.

"Do we know who and what the ship was?" he asked.

"According to images I have personally been shown, it was one of ours – a _Galaxy_ class ship" Naomi said, and there was a gasp at the thought of what had happened. "However, this is not a Captain Maxwell incident, but rather a ship that Starfleet Command has had reports of for some time – the _Trigati_…" and murmurs ran through the assembled officers. It was clear that some of them had heard of the ship and what it had been doing over the last few years.

"May I ask what our mission is?" asked the new Operations manager – a fresh faced Lieutenant by the name of Marcus Billby.

"Our orders are to search for the _Trigati_ and, if possible, to retake the vessel and bring it back. If that is not possible, then I have reserve orders which authorise us to engage the ship and destroy it. Because of the nature of the enemy, we may be dealing with ships other then the _Trigati_, and we are cleared to fire upon those ships too if needs dictate it" Naomi said.

"Are you suggesting that the rogue Dominion have a base inside the Vesuvi Dust Cloud?" asked Billby. "If so, then how are we supposed to search for it?" he added.

"That is a very good question, Mister Billby" Naomi said. "To answer that, I shall turn our meeting over to my Astrometrics Officer, Icheb" and the girl stepped aside to allow Icheb to stand and take the mic.

"As you know, _Voyager_ was picked over by the Corps of Engineers upon her return. Several key items were developed and installed on other ships such as the Borg Torpedoes _Defiant_s now carry as standard. A number of things were copied but unsuccessful compared to results on _Voyager_, and one of those is the better sensor packages aboard her. Using the Borg sensors, we will be able to conduct a search of the entire cloud in less then three days. If nothing shows up, then we will go to the point of last known sighting and continue moving and scanning from there. Because of the great length of the sensors, we should be able to detect the _Trigati_ and any other ships long before they can see us. We can also use them to scan for otherwise hidden dangers such as subspace mines" pictures flicked on the screen behind him as he spoke. Icheb went on for several minutes more before Naomi took the podium again.

"You each have a list concerning your departments. If there is anything that you think you would need, then please pass it on to Starfleet Supply and they'll get it to you within the seven day period we have until launch" she said.

"May I ask what they are doing here?" asked a science officer pointing at Mezoti and Azan and Rebi.

"Azan and Rebi will be coming along because of their abilities to quickly find weak spots in the enemy. Mezoti is coming along to head the planetary survey teams, as well as working with Medical to determine any possible viruses that we find" Naomi said. "If you don't wish to serve with these people whom I trusted with my life for over three years, then you are welcome to leave the ship. Once we have set sail, I want nothing but common manners shown to them. Icheb is a fully commissioned Starfleet officer, and the others are all accomplished in their chosen fields. I will give you this warning, and this warning alone: disrespect my friends because they were once part of the Collective, then I'll throw you out of the nearest airlock. Now that we are all clear on that, I suggest that you attend to things while myself and the rest of the command staff go over the fine details. Dismiss" and the room emptied quickly.

"You've got Captain Janeway down to almost a fine art" Azan said with a smile.

"I was very scared" said Icheb with a straight face.

"Oh stop it" Naomi giggled. "Let's get back and start going over the crew manifests again. If any of you want to take a particular piece of the storing, then by all means do so" and they got back to the long and hard work.

#

"_Delta_ _Flyer_ to _USS Voyager_"

"Voyager_ here_" came a voice over the comm link.

"Approaching your main shuttle bay. We are carrying Commanding Officer _Voyager_" Icheb said.

"_Understand you are carrying Commanding Officer_ Voyager, Delta Flyer" said the voice. "_You are cleared for landing_,Voyager_ out_" and there was a soft click as the link was severed. Icheb looped the shuttle round to face the main shuttle bay, passed through the protective forcefield and gently touched the ship down with the faintest of shakes.

"A nice landing" commented the Doctor, and the praise made Icheb go very slightly red. They picked up a few things from under consoles and gathered at the hatch which opened at the touch of a button.

"ATTENTION ON DECK!" called out an officer to Naomi's right. "Captain, _USS Voyager_, arriving" and at the same time, an Ensign stepped out of line and blew the boson's whistle and piped Naomi aboard. The same officer who had called out for attention came to stand in front of Naomi. "Captain Wildman, welcome aboard Ma'am" he stuck out his hand that Naomi shook politely. "I'm Commander Jonathan Woodhead" the man added. Naomi stepped onto the podium which faced the assembled crew of the ship. She and the group assumed that, as the ship was docked, there was nobody manning the stations all over _Voyager_. She raised the PADD so she could see it better and began to read it aloud for all to hear.

To, Captain Naomi Wildman, Stardate 59883.1

You are hereby requested and required to take command to take command of the _USS Voyager_ as of this date.

Signed

Owen Paris

Admiral Commanding

Home Fleet

"Computer, can you identify me?"

'_Voice print analysis indicates you are Captain Naomi Wildman, assigned to take command of the starship _Voyager_, NCC 74656, this date_' came the voice of the computer.

"I am now assuming command"

'_So noted_'

"Computer, Begin recording of Captain's Log" there was a chirp as the computer signalled it was ready. "Captain's Log, Stardate 59883.1. This is the first mission of the _Voyager_ since her return to the Alpha Quadrant. May she keep up the memories and spirit of those lost tragically early in their lives. Computer, end log" and the computer chirped to signal it had finished recording.

"Permission to dismiss the crew?" Woodhead asked.

"Carry on" Naomi ordered.

"Crew! Department heads, attend to your divisions… dismiss!" and the assembled officers and crew broke up except for a small gaggle of Ensigns that stepped forward. They took their cases and duffels whilst Woodhead took them on a tour round the ship. He seemed to be unaware that Naomi had spent the majority of her life on it with her friends joining later, but she was too polite to correct the officer.

# # # # #

The tour ended on the bridge, and it looked like everything had just had the wrappers taken off the consoles and seats. But Naomi and the other former Borg Drones could see the damage they had to live with for weeks and months at a time – most notably the damage they had sustained after the return and the few fire fights they had on the way back to Sector 001. The group inspected each of the stations, noted slight changes in layouts due to the technological developments they had brought back with them.

"I like what you've done with the place" Naomi joked. "Mr Woodhead, I would like to see you in my ready room in ten minutes" and she went into what was now _rightfully_ her Ready Room with Mezoti. The twins went over to examine in greater detail the Engineering and Ops stations. Icheb went down to Astrometrics to supervise the downloading of all spatial data concerning Vesuvi before, during and after it was destroyed by the Cardassian faction led by Matan. The Doctor went to his familiar office and put a call through to Doctor Zimmerman and Haley to let them know what he was up to.

#

"So what do you think, Mez?" asked Naomi as the pair were curled up on the sofa.

"It looks as if you have a good crew" Mezoti replied, sipping at her milkshake.

"Enough about you lot…" Naomi teased.

"Aye, Aye, Capin" teased Mezoti with a giggle. "Seriously though, a lot of them are going to find it hard to take orders from a 15 year old whom has not even been to the Academy" the girl said. "I also saw the looks we got off a couple of the crew, so there may be some difficulties interacting with them" and Naomi nodded wisely at that news.

"I did see that myself, but look what happened with Seven. People hated her a great deal, but they got over it and started to like her loads and loads" the girl said. "If we have any trouble in the next two and a half days, then I'll transfer them off the ship altogether. Better to get it over with now, then to find out when we are outside a Starbase" Naomi pointed out.

#

The last two days became a little hectic as creates went missing, orders got confused but nearly everything would be sorted out by the time _Voyager_ left Spacedock. As it turned out, four people requested transfers off the ship due to the former drones. It was not that they objected to them personally, they had a deep hatred of the Borg. Naomi put in their service records she was pleased they removed themselves from a situation before something happened. Because of this, Icheb was made Chief Science Officer with Mezoti under him as Deputy Science Officer. However, as the route Starbase 12 was well plotted there was no need for scans, and so Naomi called all of her friends to the bridge to witness their departure together. Control had refused to grant _Voyager_ clearance to depart during the previous afternoon, so Naomi had sent an official notice to them that she intended to depart at 02:45 hours, and could they have a crew standing by to open the doors?

"All hands, rig for departure" called out Woodhead.

"All decks report ready" said Ops.

"Get me the docking master" Naomi said.

"Control tower reading, Sir"

"Control, this is _Voyager_, requesting permission to get underway"

"Voyager_ this is Control, permission granted. Weigh port gates in 30 seconds_"

"Weighing from this mark" Naomi was really enjoying herself at this point.

"Clear all moorings" called the helm officer.

"_All lines clear_" replied the unseen voice over the link.

"Aft thrusters" and the helm officer went to work the console.

"Thank you, Lieutenant" Naomi said. "One quarter impulse power" and several of the bridge crew looked at her in surprise.

"Sir?" questioned helm. "But regulations specify thrusters only while in Spacedock" and Naomi shook her head as she had the mental image of the same thing played out on Kirk's final departure as Captain of the _Enterprise-A_. She rose from her seat, went forward and stood next to helm.

"I relieve you" she said. The officer looked shaken, but then became relieved that he wouldn't get into trouble. He vacated the seat that Naomi slipped into, and the girl took a moment to study the console and then began to work the console. "Hello, ship. And how are we today?" she asked it.

"_Very well, Captain. Thank you for asking_" replied the computer, and nearly everyone on the bridge was startled. A fit of giggles and laughter came from the auxiliary tactical console, and Naomi turned to see her friends in various states of laughter.

"Mezoti…" Naomi said.

"It wasn't me" Mezoti protested. "Icheb did it" but the Brunali looked poker faced.

"I was ordered to do it" he said.

"By whom?" Woodhead asked.

"The Doctor" replied Icheb.

"Well just this once…" cautioned Naomi, trying and failing to keep a laugh from coming to the surface. "Just don't make a habit of it. I mean, you've scared most of the bridge crew now… tsk tsk" she added with a wave of her finger. Soon, the ship was sitting in open space and Naomi turned the helm back over to the officer she had relieved.

"Set course for Starbase 12 – Warp 7" Woodhead ordered.

"Course laid in"

"Engage" Naomi said, and the ship jumped to warp. "Status report" she asked of Woodhead.

"All decks and all systems report full operational status" he replied. Naomi asked for another report after an hours time, and the reply was the same.

"Computer, begin recording. Captain's Log, supplemental. We have completed _Voyager_'s first star hour at warp in over three years. I am pleased to report that the ship appears to be functioning well. End log" and she looked at Woodhead.

"Captain?" he questioned.

"Its quarter to four in the morning, and I am tired, Commander" she said. "I am going to bed. Maintain course and speed to Starbase 12, keep an eye and an ear open for distress calls and wake me in about six hours time" and Woodhead nodded.

"Aye, Captain"

"You have the bridge" and with that, Naomi went with her friends to their respective quarters. Naomi and Mezoti shared quarters like they always had done before, the twins got cabins next to each other and Icheb got one as well. The Doctor was assigned a set of quarters as well, but as a hologram he wasn't in desperate need. He did appreciate the fact Naomi had demanded them for him though.

**A/N:**

**Promised you another chapter didn't I?**

**First off, if we have any Babylon 5 fans in the room today, then you'll recognise the **_**Trigati**_** as the name of the ship that refused to obey orders and surrdender at the Battle of the Line, and went rogue for years afterwards. I watched that episode recently (it's one of my favs) and loved the idea of a ship carrying on a fight that no longer existed. I have always loved the name **_**Trigati**_** and have wondered how I could use the name. I think making it a **_**Galaxy**_** class ship in this story would be about the same as a **_**Sharlin**_** war crusier in B5.**

**The exchange that Naomi and Nechayev is from the film "Down Periscope" when the main character is given his own boat, but nearly turns it down when told he will get a proper crew instead of the oddballs and screwups he was given. He refuses to take command unless he can take his current crew with him – including a woman. How THAT works in beyond me! The **_**Stingray**_** is named in honour of the sub that appears in the film.**

**Starbase 12, Vesuvi Dust Cloud and other related mentions come from the game Star Trek: Bridge Commander. I have always found that game to be fun, and if anybody plays that game I will tell you about the secret refill of torpedoes you can get. And I am not talking about the ones on the wrecked transport either...**

**If nobody gets the ST VI ref, then you are banned from the rest of the fic (just kidding)**

**The way Naomi takes command of **_**Voyager**_** after landing on the ship is how Picard is shown to have assumed the command of the **_**Enterprise-D**_** in All Good Things – just before the events of the first episode Encounter At Farpoint. The talking to the computer is taken from the novel version of Encounter At Farpoint.**

**Special mention to kingnick104 who requested a bit more of a naval atmosphere. I hope you liked this. Expect more of the same in the upcoming chapters!**

**I hope you like this chapter, and leave lots of nice and kind reviews. Next update – for this story – maybe on either Tuesday or Thursday. Uniquely, I have written the entire story, bar the final chapter, in the space of a week. That works out at a chapter worked on per day! Bet none of you could claim to crank out that much output!**

**Warm regards,**

**Pixel**

**Undisputed God Of Fanfiction**


	3. The Hunt Is On

**The Hunt Is On**

"_Bridge to Captain Wildman_" called a junior officer from the bridge.

"Wildman here" Naomi said.

"_We are approaching Starbase 12, Captain. However it…_" the young woman hesitated over something.

"Spit it out" Naomi said, gulping down the last of her juice.

"_The Starbase is showing no lifesigns aboard_" and Naomi looked at the Doctor who was as surprised as she was.

"Go to Yellow Alert. I am on my way" Naomi ordered. She picked up her jacket, made sure her clasps were done correctly, and then headed from her quarters to the turbolift. The Doctor went to Sickbay so he was ready for heavy casualties. He was glad this time he had a full medical team to work with… though he wished dearly he could call upon the services of Tom Paris.

# # # # #

"Status report" Naomi called out as she entered the bridge.

"Sensors confirm that there are no lifesigns aboard the Starbase. Weapons and shields are powered down in normal standby mode, life support is at minimal levels…" Woodhead was looking at his own small console and looking at the readings for himself.

"Hull damage?" Naomi asked him.

"None at all, Captain" Woodhead said. "The Starbase was mainly deserted though because it was being fully repaired after the Dominion war and the attacks by Matan" he added.

"Drop out of warp" Naomi ordered. "Scan the area for recent warp trails" and the science department started work as _Voyager_ dropped smoothly out of warp.

"I am reading several trails leading away from the area. Course is 313 mark 52. I can not identify the trails at this time" Mezoti said. She had taken one of the rear bridge consoles and was working away quite rapidly.

"Contact Starfleet" Naomi ordered.

"Communications are being blocked by high subspace radiation" Mezoti reported, pre-empting the on duty science officer.

"Who put it there?" asked Woodhead.

"Signature reads as Dominion" came the reply.

"Bridge to Astrometrics" Naomi opened a com link.

"_Icheb here_"

"Do you know of any way of cutting through the radiation?" Naomi asked.

"_Assuming that the Dominion used the Starbase as a radiation source, disabling said source would cut it out_" Naomi said.

"Tactical, lock torpedoes onto the reactors of the Starbase and prepare to fire" Woodhead said.

"Belay that order" called Naomi, and then she looked at Woodhead. "Exactly what do you think you are doing, Mr Woodhead?" she demanded.

"I was trying to disable the radiation, Captain" said the first officer.

"By destroying both a valuable asset, and a place of clues for an investigation into where the crew went?" Naomi shook her head in disbelief. Things had always seemed so much easier in the Delta Quadrant. "Commander Woodhead, I rebuke you"

"I am rebuked, Captain" Woodhead replied formally.

"Now I want you to take a couple of teams and search the Starbase for the source of the radiation. Use the EVA suits to look around the parts with higher levels. Make one of the teams a mixture of Science and Engineering, and send them to the Control Centre. I want to gleam every bit of information possible"

"Aye, Captain" Woodhead said. "Mezoti, Azan, Rebi. You're with me" and the three former drones left the bridge with the first officer.

"Helm, lay in a course along the route indicate by sensors, and prepare to engage at Warp 6" Naomi said.

"Aye, Captain"

"Captain?" said the tactical officer. She went by the unfortunate name of Allison Cannon – a source of amusement to most on board.

"Yes?" Naomi turned in her seat.

"May I suggest I arm a few of the torpedoes? I know we are at Yellow Alert only, but I do not wish to be caught unaware and then have no way to shoot back" Cannon said.

"Very well" Naomi agreed with the idea. "Arm two torpedoes in each of the four launchers" and Cannon worked on her console whilst Naomi and the rest of the ship awaited news.

# # # # #

It took several hours for the source of the radiation to be located and disabled. The amount generated though would ensure that no communications with Starfleet was possible. The crew was able to access the Starbase's computers remotely and vent all of the atmosphere into space – getting rid of some radiation issues. Although the Dominion _had_ boarded the station, they had not managed to get all of the information wiped from the logs. Sensors confirmed that they had come on the same course that _Voyager_ had detected, and that it was a force of five Dominion fighters plus a _Galaxy_ class starship. The station's skeleton crew had let their guard down as they thought it was the rogue units giving themselves up, and escorted by a Starfleet vessel as per the terms of surrender. Not a single life had been lost in the action, and the few visual images revealed that the Jem'Hadar had used the _Trigati_'s hand phasers to stun everyone before beaming them off.

"So…" Naomi was holding a orange juice and cheese sandwich session in the ready room, "… what do we do now?" she put the question to everyone.

"We should get out of this radiation and contact Starfleet for a bigger task force" said Lieutenant Commander Di'et – _Voyager_'s chief helm officer.

"We could do that, but we might lose any possible way to rescue the Starbase's crew as well as stop the Dominion forces and the captured ships" Icheb said. "I recommend that we go and follow the traces"

"At the very least we could get some scans to make a better and more informed decision" put in Mezoti.

"Doctor?" asked Naomi.

"I agree with Icheb and Mezoti" said the hologram. "Who knows what kind of treatment the crew of the _Trigati_ are in. With a new lot of Starfleet people coming in, the ones already there may well be executed.

"Azan? Rebi?" Naomi asked the twins.

"We should go after them" said Rebi.

"That the best you know?" she asked them.

"No" replied Azan, "But it is the human thing to do" and Naomi couldn't help but smile.

Then it is decided" she said. "We'll follow the course and maintain a constant Yellow Alert. We'll get under weigh in a few minutes, dismiss" and everyone left except for Icheb. "Something wrong?" Naomi asked him.

"Perhaps" replied the Brunali. "Whilst I was in the communication centre, I spotted a message being sent by somebody. They took great care to hide the signal, but I was able to recover the message in its entirety. It consists entirely of numbers in a seemingly random group. I presume that who or what was being sent this message, they had means to decode it" and Icheb handed his friend a PADD containing the message.

_S31 S31 S31_

_00482 11111 82648 19375 39185_

_03814 19528 20409 28465 10926_

_12345 67890 01928 37465 19586_

_S31 S31 S31_

_000 000_

"Do you know of anything like this?" asked Naomi.

"I don't know" Icheb replied. "I will attempt to decode the message, but it may prove impossible" but Naomi shook her head.

"If anybody can decode it, then it is you, Icheb. Maybe the others as well…." She added with a slight grin. They walked onto the bridge together and Naomi took her seat.

"Ready to get going, Captain" said Woodhead stiffly. He had been like that ever since Naomi had rebuked him, and placed it in his file for three months.

"Helm, Warp 6… engage" and she made a shooting motion like Picard would do. _Voyager_ turned away from the Starbase and jumped into Warp. "Status report" she ordered.

"All systems running as normal" Ops said. "We are maintaining Yellow Alert as ordered" the young Ensign said.

"Very well" Naomi waited another ten minutes before turning over the bridge to Icheb and going to the ready room with Woodhead.

# # # # #

They passed through the great void with little effort. Woodhead finished his shift, went to his quarters and activated a powerful, and yet nearly undetectable, communication unit.

"Woodhead reporting… Woodhead reporting"

"_What do you have to report_?"

"Wildman is going off in search of the _Trigati_ and the ships. She also is attempting to retrieve the crew of Starbase 12. I warned her not to, but she is doing so regardless" Woodhead said.

"_You have done well, Commander. Keep doing what you can to make it look like another invasion by the Dominion_"

"Aye, Admiral. Woodhead out" and he closed the unit and placed it under his bed. This was going easier then he ever could have thought.

# # # # #

They reached the Vesuvi Dust Cloud, dropped to impulse and cautiously moved in. The trail led into the cloud, but there was no way to be sure they ships hadn't masked their warp drives the moment they came out the other side.

"Encountering a lot of turbulence" said Di'et.

"Steady as she goes, helm" Naomi said.

"Steady as she goes, aye Captain" Di'et said.

"Mezoti, anything on sensors?" Naomi asked.

"Nothing of any real interest…" the Norcadian was interested in one of her screens.

"What have you found?" asked Naomi.

"Well according to both normal and visual sensors, we were just passed by a large asteroid in the shape of an enormous erect penis" Mezoti flushed a little red as she called up the image on the small screen in front of her.

"Oh my…" Naomi breathed. "We must come back here again" and several of the older crew looked at the blushing and giggling teenaged girls. "Something like this must be catalogued for history and science" and some of the bridge crew exchanged knowing looks.

"Of course Captain" Di'et sniggered.

"Permission to leave the bridge" Mezoti requested.

"Granted" Naomi said. "I think I'll join you. Commander, you have the bridge" and grabbing Mezoti's arm, she dragged her friend into a turbolift which whisked them away. There was silence on the bridge where the crew exchanged looks.

"Well they are teenaged girls" said Ops.

# # # # #

Naomi didn't return until the beginning of her next shift on the bridge, and both her and Mezoti had to go and have cold showers from the oddly shaped asteroid. They emerged from the dust and resumed the trail at warp speed. This had been going for several hours before sensors detected something of note.

"_Astrometrics to the bridge_" Icheb's voice filtered through the speakers.

"Bridge here" Naomi said. The crew knew that their Captain preferred to handle all calls from her command crew herself.

"_Borg sensors are picking up several ships in a nearby star system_"

"Can you identify?"

"_Not at this range. If I were to increase power to the sensors, then I would risk ourselves being detected_" Icheb said.

"Pass the co-ordinates up here" Naomi said.

"_Aye, Captain_" Icheb clearly had his mind on his work, so Naomi let him off calling her 'Captain' on this occasion.

"I have them now, Sir" said the graveyard shift helm officer.

"Well how about we go do some hunting?" Naomi asked. "Alter course to bring us into the system, but keep as many planets as you can between us and the location. Reduce speed to Warp 1 until we get to the outer planets, then drop to impulse" and the stars changed as _Voyager_ turned to head towards the system. "Icheb, what can you tell me about the planets?" she asked.

"_It is a five planet system. The outer two are ringed gas giants. If we approach from behind them, it should reduce our visibility somewhat_"

"Adjusting course to match" said the helm officer without being told. Although they had been together only a few days, they already knew how Naomi ran her bridge. So longs as they did their jobs well and kept and an eye on all the readouts, then she didn't mind a bit of talking about various subjects.

"_Of the inner three planets, one is comprised of nothing but rock and ice. The next in seems to have suffered some kind of geological catastrophe in the last one to three hundred years. The one nearest the sun is Class M, air levels are a close match for Earth. The temperature is two degrees higher then Earth on the equator though_" Icheb said.

"Which planet are the ships near?" asked Naomi as _Voyager_ dropped out of warp. It began a complicated series of movements that enabled it to pass through the rings of the outer two planets without a course correction.

"_The innermost planet_" Icheb said. "_I will have to shut down the Borg sensors for fear of detection_" and Naomi told him to do so while they were still in the shadow of the forth planet.

"Can we detect anything with our normal sensors?" Naomi asked.

"_We would have to close the distance to about the second planet. It does have a small moon that we could use to hide behind. Because of its make up, we can see and hear them, but they would not be able to see us… unless they looked out of a window_" Icheb added with an audible chuckle.

"Helm, adjust our heading so that we head towards the planet's moon, then shut down the impulse drive after a big enough burst. You'll have to do the orbiting with thrusters only" Naomi ordered.

"Aye, Captain" the helm replied, going by the numbers in her replies so there was no mistake.

"Science, if we launched a probe would they detect it?" asked the girl. She was trying to remember the information from her own studies from the crew. B'Lanna didn't always have time to talk about Engineering matters, but when she did, it was always done in such a way that Naomi could remember easily.

"Affirmative" was the reply. "We should be able to get sensor returns from the moon anyway" added the officer on the bridge. With a little bit of an effort, _Voyager_ slipped into orbit of the moon and began using its normal sensors to covertly scan the ships.

"_Receiving sensor data_" said Icheb. "_I am also picking up comm traffic between them_" he added.

"Audio only. Playing it through bridge speakers" said Ops.

"…_on. Starfleet Command has sent _Voyager_ out this way to investigate and retake the _Trigati_. Do what you want with it, but make sure there is more then enough to identify from the remains… add some bodies into the debris field as well_" it sounded a very human like voice.

"_And what about the Klingons_" asked a gruff voice.

"_Once _Voyager_ is out of the way, then you can take the Starfleet ships, cross the border and start a carnage. The Klingons will think that they have started a war, and wreek havoc on the entire Federation_" said the human voice again.

"_We shall speak again in one of your months_" said the gruff voice.

"The comm traffic has been severed" said Ops.

"Have they detected us?" Naomi wondered if Icheb had been wrong.

"Unlikely" said the bridge science officer, and then her jaw dropped in pure astonishment. Naomi noticed the goldfish impression and asked what the matter was. "I have an identification on the ships" and the live image of the planet was replaced by a live view of the four ships gathered at the innermost planet. Two were Dominion Battleships, whilst the other two were _Defiant_ class vessels. Unlike the _Defiant_ and other ships of that class, these were sporting jet black hulls. Neither of them carried hull markings of any kind, and only the red of the impulse engines, and the running lights showed signs that both of them were powered.

"Can we scan those ships?" asked Naomi.

"Not without giving away our position" and both anything could be said, the _Defiant_s jumped to warp whilst the Battleships turned and headed out of the system.

"I am detecting a faint transmission, but sensors indicate it is coming from inside _us_" Tactical said.

"Have the Battleships picked it up?" Naomi was afraid of the answer.

"I do not believe so" said the tactical officer. "I was able to dampen the signal before it reached them. I have the recording of it though" and a mechanical male voice started speaking through the speakers.

_S31 S31 S31_

_31725 01856 91412 18476 12345_

_67890 29583 10244 44906 14863_

_78324 99625 31895 98513 29573_

_S31 S31 S31_

_000 000_

"Listen up everyone, you are hereby sworn to silence over what you heard just now" Naomi said. "I hope that I am wrong, but it seems as if we have an enemy agent onboard. I don't want them to know that we know about him or her" and she received a chorus of affirmatives.

"Shall I follow the Jem'Hadar?" asked helm.

"Yes, but keep a distance behind them. They might lead us to another location, and hopefully the location of the _Trigati_" Naomi said. It was half an hour later when Woodhead came steaming onto the bridge with an angry air about him.

"Why was I not told about the covert listening we just did?" he demanded from Naomi.

"It was easier to just get it done, rather then call a full staff meeting and talk about it" Naomi said.

"Well next time this happens, you are to tell me" he ordered.

"And who in the name of the Flying Spaghetti Monster are you to come storming onto my bridge and start giving me orders?" Naomi rose from her seat to face her First Officer.

"_Your _bridge? If things had gone the right way, then I would be given command of this ship instead of you. The only reason you are in command of _Voyager_ is because you are the famous Naomi Wildman – hero of the Federation. The person that nursed a dying ship back to Federation space" Woodhead was shouting and ranting at Naomi, and she felt slightly intimidated by the older man. The rest of the bridge crew were stunned into silence.

"You are standing on thin ice, Mister" Naomi told him, but her knees felt like jelly and she was shaking quite a bit.

"What are you going to do?" asked Woodhead in a sneer. "Bite my kneecaps? You are not even a proper Captain…"

"I am the Captain here. Get off my bridge" Naomi told him, reaching for the chair arm for support.

"You only got to keep the rank because everyone from _Voyager_'s original crew was killed, and everyone feels sorry for you" Woodhead said. "All including your precious mother and Janeway. You are nothing but a crybaby, and I bet those stupid idiots are glad they are dead instead of watching a weak half caste like you. I hereby Relieve you of Comma…" but the rest of Woodhead's statement was cut off by Naomi ramming into him.

"NEVER INSULT MY MOTHER OR CAPTAIN JANEWAY!" Naomi shouted – all the fear gone, and replaced with a red mist of hate and anger. She pounded her fists into his face as they had a fight on the bridge. Woodhead shook her off himself and got to his feet. At that moment the turbolift opened with Naomi's friends and they were stunned into stillness. So much so, that the turbolift was called away with them still in it.

"I know how to treat threats to the Federation like you. We kill them" and he picked Naomi up by the neck and squeezed his hands around it. She started flailing, turned red and blue, gasped for air and had the sensation of her eyes bulging out as she felt a cold blackness coming over.

"Let the Captain go" demanded Di'et.

"Stay out of this" Woodhead said. "This girl is endangering the entire mission, and I have reserve orders to take whatever steps needed to eliminate that threat" he added. "Cannon, shoot her now" and Cannon drew her phaser.

"Permission to fire a phaser on the bridge?" she asked.

"SHOOT!" yelled Woodhead. "I can't hold her much longer. Fire!" and Cannon's phaser fired a beam and hit Woodhead between the shoulder blades and dropped him like a stone on top of a gasping Naomi.

"Bridge to Sickbay. Emergency Medical Hologram to the bridge" Di'et said. She reached under the helm console and pulled out a phaser stored there for the event the ship was boarded.

"Security to the bridge" Cannon said, tapping her combadge as others rushed to roll Woodhead off the fallen girl and give her assistance. Naomi was taking in air in great big gulps, coughed raggedly and adult sized hand prints showed on her neck from where Naomi had been grabbed by the unconscious Woodhead. The turbolift opened once more and out poured the Doctor and the duty medical team, with Mezoti, Azan and Rebi following with phaser rifles in their arms. They covered the officer as he came round from the light stun until the security team arrived.

"What is going on?" asked the team leader, taking in the scene.

"Commander Woodhead stormed onto the bridge, started demanding things of the Captain, tried to give her orders, and when she told him to get off the bridge he physically assaulted her" Cannon said. "Will the Captain be alright?" she asked the Doctor.

"Yes, but I'll take her to the Sickbay to be certain" the hologram said, and moved so that the security team could drag Woodhead to his feet.

"_Let me up_" whispered Naomi.

"You should lie down, Naomi" said the Doctor gently.

"I'll go to sickbay without question, Doctor" she said in a little firmer voice. Mezoti helped her to her feet and supported her friend as she faced the First Officer.

"You don't know how much trouble and danger you have put us in" said Woodhead.

"Commander Jonathan Woodhead, for the unprovoked assault on a superior officer, you are hereby relieved of duty and confined to the brig. Just be thankful I haven't ordered you out an airlock for disrespecting my mother and Captain Janeway" Naomi said, trying hard to not pass out.

"You'll regret this" Woodhead said.

"Regret _this_" Naomi snarled with anger and fury, and she used all of her remaining strength and kicked Woodhead in the place where it hurts most males – in the balls. "Get him off my bridge!" and security took him away.

"We better get you to sickbay, Miss Wildman" the Doctor said. Naomi though noticed that _Voyager_ seemed to be losing attitude control, and was spinning counter clockwise.

"Somebody call Engineering and get them to stop the ship spinning…" and with that she passed out.

"Clear the space" said the officer at Ops, and the crowd moved as Naomi, the Doctor and the medical team beamed away directly to Sickbay.

"Who is the senior officer?" asked Di'et. "I mean somebody has to take command of the ship" she added.

"Good point" Cannon said. "Computer, after the Captain and First Officer, who is the next senior member of the ship's company?" she asked the computer. After a moment of calculating it came up with the answer.

"_Lieutenant Commander Icheb_"

"Bridge to Icheb" Rebi tapped his comm badge.

"_Icheb here_"

"You better get to the bridge, there has been a terrible incident" and they could hear the silence.

"_I am on my way_" he said.


	4. Look What We Found…

**Look What We Found…**

"How is she, Doctor?" asked Mezoti.

"Exactly the same as she was five minutes ago, Miss Mezoti" said the Doctor. The girl was sat by her best friends bedside holding her hand. Azan and Rebi had kept their phaser rifles and were standing guard over the doors to sickbay outside until ordered otherwise by Icheb. As Icheb had not said anything since taking command and then going to the ready room, there the two would stay.

"When do you think she will come round?" asked Cannon. She had come straight from the bridge as soon as her duty shift had ended.

"I gave her a couple of sedatives, so it will not be for the next few hours" replied the Doctor.

"Well right now, Woodhead has been stripped of his uniform and is wearing standard prison garb" Cannon told the other two. "Commander Icheb decided he had disgraced his uniform, so he made him strip it off and then vaporised it with a hand phaser. He wished he could have executed him on the spot, but Woodhead is staying in the brig until we return and can organise a court martial for his actions today" and then Mezoti and Cannon left the Doctor to his other work, and watched over Naomi. She neglected to mention that Icheb had gone completely nuts over the attack on his friend, and had ordered Woodhead placed in shackles and chained to the cell's wall.

# # # # #

"Status report" ordered Icheb, sitting in the left hand seat – he didn't want to sit in the chair that was rightfully Naomi.

"We are maintaining course and speed" Di'et said.

"We are on Yellow Alert as ordered" said Cannon.

"Any idea where they are heading to?" asked Icheb.

"This course takes us out of Federation space and into unclaimed territory" said the on duty science officer.

"Commander…" called out Cannon. "They are slowing down"

"Collapse the warp field" Icheb said. "All engines full reverse, and bring us to a full stop" he ordered.

"Aye, Sir" Di'et said. "All engines full reverse… full stop" and she dumped the warp field and brought the ship to a complete and total halt. "Now reading full stop" she added.

"Cut all main power" Icheb said.

"Aye, Sir" said Ops. Icheb's memory told him the man's name might have been McAvoy.

"Lets hope that they don't see us following them" Icheb said, and they waited almost an hour before the two Battleships went straight back to Warp. "Restore main power and resume pursuit of the ships" but Di'et said she was unable to find a trace of the trails.

"I think they might have been letting us follow them" she said.

"Go back to Yellow Alert, and resume our last heading at maximum warp" Icheb ordered. "Full power to sensors and keep a constant scan on what is ahead of us" and _Voyager_ leapt to warp once more. "Bridge to Sickbay, how is Naomi?" he asked the Doctor. He knew that the bridge crew was worried about their Captain's condition.

# # # # #

"DOCTOR!" Mezoti called out in sickbay. The EMH came running over to Naomi's bed and started scanning her. Over the next ten minutes she woke up and was given some papilla juice to sip.

"What happened?" asked the girl. She had one hell of a headache, but couldn't remember passing out on the bridge. The Doctor and Mezoti filled her in on what had happened to her, to Woodhead and the vanishing warp trails. "I've been dreaming about Woodhead" Naomi said.

"No doubt you will have some issues and nightmares because of that. I was surprised you did not awake despite the sedatives I gave you" the Doctor said, but to his surprise Naomi shook her head – a move she instantly regretted.

"I think Woodhead is the spy" she said.

"That is a little farfetched is it not?" asked Mezoti.

"Not really" Naomi replied. "Woodhead was off the bridge during the times the messages were sent. Plus, he knew about the covert listening we did on the Starfleet ships and the Jem'Hadar. Only the on duty bridge crew plus Icheb would have known about that. Plus he mentioned about traitors and sabotaging the mission. Only one group in the Federation talks like that…" and she shakily told the pair what she had been dreaming of.

# # # # #

When Icheb sent a team to investigate Woodhead's quarters, they found the communication's unit with another message waiting to be read on the screen. This was formatted differently to the previous messages, and not even the three Vulcans onboard could decode the message.

_S31 S31 S31_

_8 5 12 12 15 000 1 18 25. 000 9 8 15 16 5 000 25 15 21 000 1 18 5 000 4 15 9 14 7 000 23 5 12 12. 000 18 5 7 1 18 4 19 000 4 1 21 14 20 12 5 19 19._

_S31 S31 S31_

_000 000_

"Is there any chance that with this code, you can analyse it, compare the contents to the other messages recovered and attempt a breaking of the code?" Naomi asked.

"We have people on it now" Mezoti assured her, and then she turned to the Doctor. "Can I take her home please?" the girl asked.

"So long as you tell me of any problems" the hologram said. Whilst Naomi was under the sedatives, he had performed some surgery which included removing the bruises and repairing the tissue damage Woodhead had caused when he had grabbed Naomi by the throat. As a person of the medical profession, he had sworn not to do any harm. However he was tempted to step over that line because of what Woodhead did. He had had to disengage some of his subroutines because he didn't trust himself with the prisoner when Icheb had ordered a complete body search of him using both sensors and a body cavity search.

# # # # #

Two days later, and well beyond Federation claimed space, _Voyager_ was forced to drop out of warp because of what lay ahead. Not only was there the two Battleships there, but three more of them, three squadrons worth of Fighters plus a large collection of Starfleet vessels all in a holding area around a Cardassian space station. The moment they had seen that, they had hidden on a nearby crater filled moon and sat there until they could come up with another plan.

"I have a list of ships, Captain" Naomi took the PADD from Cannon's hand. She had only just been cleared for duty that afternoon by the Doctor.

"How did they get this many ships?" the girl asked as she read down the list of ships they had been able to scan. The list ran to several different classes of ships, and Naomi knew that such a fleet could only mean an invasion was being planned to take place soon.

"I do not know, Captain" Icheb said. "It would appear that the Dominion recovered a lot of ships damaged in battles. With the debris, I can only speculate that they were able to repair the twenty five vessels plus the _Trigati_ present" he added.

"I would guess that the crews are being held on the planet below" Azan said. "We were able to use a quick burst of Borg sensors to scan the planet without being detected" and his twin took over.

"We think we have detected a number of prison barracks on the surface, plus evidence of heavy mining of metals. I presume for use in the repair efforts and making more torpedo casings" Rebi said.

"Mmm…" Naomi said. "Computer, list all of the ships presently being held by Dominion forces by ship class. Skip the registry numbers" and the computer hummed for a few moments before speaking in its serene feminine voice.

"_Galaxy Class _USS Trigati, _Miranda Class_ USS Williams, USS Aqua, USS Hastings, USS Jenkins, _Steamrunner Class _USS Dibnah, USS Pearson, USS Blackpool, USS Bond, _Akira Class_ USS Indefatigable, USS Renown, USS Ark Royal, USS Exeter, USS Cumberland, _Excelsior Class_ USS Lakota, USS Moscow, USS Boots Randolph, USS Tina Turner, _Freedom Class _USS New York, _Ambassador Class_ USS Adlephi, USS Rodenberry, _Constellation Class_ USS Hathaway, _Soyuz Class_ USS Gagarin, _Nebula Class_ USS Phoenix, USS Bellerophon, _New Orleans_ _Class_ USS William Adama" spoke in its tone.

"If each of those ships appears to be operational, then it seems that they would also be combat capable" Cannon said. "I could hit the nacelles with weapons so we can leg it and fly off for a battle fleet" she added.

"I already have a fleet" Naomi said.

"You never mentioned that in our pre-mission briefing" Di'et pointed out.

"That's because I didn't have one before, but now we are here I do" and Naomi tapped the fuzzy image of all the ships sat in the holding areas. "Our mission orders are to eliminate all enemy positions and ships, but it is clear that this ship does not have enough firepower" and Rebi could see what Naomi was thinking.

"You plan to launch a surface assault on the planet, free the crews of the captured ships, plus the Starbase 12 people and beam them up to the ships. From there, they can turn their weapons against the Dominion vessels and the station" he said.

"It is a brave plan" Azan agreed, "but an operation of this magnitude will require the use of nearly member of the crew. Who will man the bridge and other key systems?" he asked.

"It'll just be like old times" Naomi with a grin. "Once the prisoners are freed, they will be spoiling for a fight, and we will have more then enough people to take the complex out. My aim though, is to take _Voyager_ and make a fast pass over the site and destroy any ships sitting in the ground plus ground to orbit weapon systems. We will then engage the station until our ships are manned and fighting" Naomi outlined her plan which would need three days to prepare for.

# # # # #

"May I have a word?" asked Icheb.

"Sure" Naomi said, and ordered him a cup of green tea with lemon. "What's on your mind?" she asked.

"I am concerned about the plan" Icheb said.

"Oh? You didn't mention many concerns in the briefing" Naomi pointed out.

"It is not the plan itself – that much is sound" Icheb sipped of his tea. "I was thinking more of what we are planning on doing. Can we really live with the fact that we are going to send people to their deaths…?" and Naomi seemed affected by what Icheb said.

"That has been in the back of my mind the entire mission" the girl admitted. "I could say something that leads this entire crew to their deaths. I could get you, Mezoti and the Azan and Rebi killed. If there was any way I could avoid as many deaths as possible, then I would take it" and Icheb considered something before sipping the last of his tea.

"What if we used the shuttles?" he asked.

"How do you mean?" Naomi put down the PADD she was working on.

"We could use the shuttles in a combat role" Icheb said. "I admit that I have been working on such a plan since the first scans of the system" he added.

"Hang on, Icheb" Naomi got up from the sofa. "I think we better have another meeting. Captain to Azan, Rebi, Mezoti, Di'et, Doctor and Cannon. Please report to the ready room on the double. I think we all need to hear the plan at once" she told him.

#

Everyone had arrived after several minutes, and Icheb began outlining his idea and plan of attack.

"It is clear that we need an advantage on the enemy" he began. "We are outmatched, outgunned and outnumbered by a dozen factors. However, what we _do_ have are shuttles. My idea is to use most of them to provide cover to the assault team, and they could take out guard posts or concentrations of Jem'Hadar and other Dominion members. Whilst this is going on, _Voyager_ and some of the remaining shuttles will attack the Dominion ships and the Cardassian station. We can not be certain if there are Cardassians working on the station, but it is a good chance" Icheb said.

"I would use the _Delta_ _Flyer_ to help attack the station" Mezoti said. "It has a better agility and is more heavily armed then the Type 6 shuttles we have onboard" and Cannon nodded in agreement.

"That little bugger should be able to knock out the power generators on the station" she said. "Once they have gone, then they will lose the ability to fire weapons and their shields will be down" and Di'et spoke from having looked at the presentation that Icheb had left running.

"I don't know if this is possible or not, but couldn't we simply take over the station?" she asked.

"I suppose we could try" Azan said.

"Most of their systems would be offline" Rebi agreed.

"What are the expected casualty rates?" asked the Doctor. He and his department were busy converting one of the cargo bays into an emergency sickbay.

"Well we know that Dominion weapons have no stun setting, so I would expect a pretty high level" Icheb said. "However, they do have access to a large arsenal of Starfleet weapons. They may use these instead of the standard issue for Dominion forces" he added.

"If I might make a suggestion…?" began Azan.

"Go right ahead" said Naomi.

"I would suggest that we free enough people to man the _Akira_s first" Azan said. "Because they carry a large amount of weaponry, they would be able to assist us in attacking both the station and any ship that comes within weapons range" and the point was valid.

"They could also protect the other ships should they become in danger of being destroyed" Rebi could see his twins reasoning.

"What we have to wonder about though, is the _Trigati_. I don't think she is going to surrender to us" Cannon said.

"There is something I could suggest" the Doctor spoke up. "We used it years ago when _Voyager_'s crew was kidnapped by a race known as the Quagaar. We knocked out one or two of their ships by beaming over _Voyager_'s supply of knockout gas. In this instance, we don't have to do so because there is already a supply on the _Trigati_. All we have to do is to order the ship's computer to disperse it, and we take the ship with no damage to either it, our ship or loss of life" and everyone looked at the Doctor with great surprise at coming up with such a brilliant plan.

"We would have to gain control of the _Trigati_ though" Di'et said.

"We have one surefire way" said Naomi, suddenly remembering something the legendary James T Kirk once did when faced with Kahn Noonan Soong over a hundred years ago.

"How?" asked Cannon.

"We look up the _Trigati_'s listing in the Starfleet database, and search for her Prefix Code" the girl said in reply.

"I get it" said Di'et. "We can order the ship to disperse the knockout gas, and to come to complete stop if it has taken action against us" and the rest of the meeting went about modifying the original plan to fit in with Icheb's plot.

# # # # #

Three days later, and everything was in place for the attack. Naomi went from her quarters to the bridge where a junior officer held the watch.

"Status report" she ordered.

"All shuttles are armed and ready for deployment. Our sensors continue to pick up traces of federation transporter equipment in use" the terrified Ensign said.

"Very well" Naomi swallowed deeply. "I have the bridge" she told it. The Ensign was of a mixed gendered species, and it was easier to describe it as an 'it' rather then offend it. Only once it had reached a certain age would it change into either a distinct male or female gender.

"Aye, Captain. I am relieved" and the Ensign hurried from the bridge.

"_Engineering to Bridge_"

"This is the Bridge" Naomi took the call herself.

"_Did you just release the plasma from the drive coils?_" asked the Chief Engineer. Naomi looked around at the rest of the bridge crew who shook their heads.

"Nobody here did it. Try to loca…" Naomi was cut off by the shout of Tactical.

"Captain, two flights of Fighters have peeled off and are heading this way with weapons and shields powered up" and the screen changed to show them coming in.

"Have they detected us?" she asked.

"Affirmative" said Tactical. "I think it was that plasma release that caught their attention" and there was only one thing that Naomi could do now.

"All hands on deck! Red Alert! All hands man your Battle Stations!" Naomi called. Instantly the lighting dimmed and the wall panels lit up with red strips as the klaxon started sounding – accompanied by the computer's automated voice, but mixed with the Tactical officer's voice.

"30,000 kilometres off the port bow – bearing 312 mark 16" said helm.

"Load all torpedo bays" Naomi ordered. "Ready phasers" she issued the orders like a seasoned Captain. "Target the lead ship, and fire on my command" she ordered.

"Weapons locked"

"Fire!" and the phasers lanced forward from _Voyager_ and raked across the lead Fighter's shields.

"Their shields are down to 85 percent" came the quick report.

"Helm, listen carefully. I want you to plot a warp jump to an orbit over the prison facility" Naomi ordered.

"I don't think I can do that" said the young man.

"You do this, I'll write you for a promotion"

"I think I can do it, Captain" came the quick reply.

"That's the spirit" Naomi encouraged him. The ship was rocked by a number of weapon impacts, but _Voyager_ took them with not too much of a strain.

"Shields down to 79 percent" Tactical said, then gave up her console to Cannon who had arrived with the Alpha shift to man the bridge.

"Helm, engage" and at Naomi's order, the ship jumped to warp for three seconds before dropping out again over the location of the prison planet. "Launch all shuttles, and beam down the assault teams" and the ship was rocked by another volley of Dominion weapons fire.


	5. The Great Battle

**The Great Battle  
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"We have incoming enemy ships coming in on multiple bearings" reported science. Because of the amount of ships they were up against, the attack plan called for the science department to handle half of the sensor duty during combat in order to free up the tactical station.

"_Trigati_ is powering up her engines" Naomi looked at the readings. "Operations, you know what to do. Under my personal authority as Captain of the _Voyager_, I am ordering you to send the prefix code for the _Trigati_" and the Operations officer nodded once and set to tapping controls.

"Sending code now, Captain"

"Station has powered up weapons and has locked on" Cannon said, and was followed up by a barrage of disrupter fire.

"Evasive manoeuvres" Naomi said. "Tell the _Flyer_ to hit the station's sensor array. Once that is knocked out, they will have to switch to a less effective manual firing system" and the ship rolled to port as it avoided several torpedoes. "Target the nearest enemy vessel and fire" Naomi said, gripping the arms of her seat as the ship was pounded by another volley of fire.

"Shields are down to 65%" Cannon said. "Enemy vessels are still fighting" and McAvoy, whom had been on an inspection of the lower decks let out a cry of triumph. He had been filled in by the other Ops officer as to what was going on

"We have now got control of the _Trigati_" he said.

"Lock out all the consoles on the main bridge, battle bridge and engineering" Naomi said. "Then have the ship come to a complete stop and raise the shields" she added.

"Aye, Captain"

"Di'et, bring us about and charge at the enemy vessels. Cannon, prepare to fire short bursts from all phaser banks. We're going to pass right through the middle of the Fighters and hopefully score a number of broadside hits. Ready aft torpedoes and standby to fire" and Naomi was acknowledged with curt replies.

"_Trigati_ is standing down" said McAvoy. "Message from the assault teams. Group leader reports first three barracks are liberated and crews are standing ready to beam up" he added.

"Have some of the shuttles beam them up" Naomi said. "_Voyager_ to _Delta Flyer_. What is your situation?" she asked of her friends. They had elected to take the ship on account they were the most familiar out of everyone on the ship.

"_We have disabled the sensor array on the station, and their fire has switched to manual targeting. It has become ineffective at shooting us down_" Icheb said. "_We have sustained several hits, but we are still combat ready_" he added.

"Well get back over here and take on some of the Fighters" Naomi said. "We can not hold out for much longer" and Icheb said that they were on the way to help.

#

_USS Boots Randolph_

The bridge lights came on as people entered the bridge for the first time. For three of them, it was not their ship, but they knew the consoles would be more or less the same.

"Status!" shouted the senior officer on the deck.

"We are completely stocked up on torpedoes" said a crewman. "The ship is fully operational"

"What about outside?" asked the officer.

"Dominion vessels are under attack by the _USS Voyager_" the crewman said. "Her shields are below 50%, and it has taken some damage. A shuttle of unknown type is assisting it – reads as Starfleet though" she added.

"What is our current condition?" asked the officer.

"Powering up sequence is underway. All key departments are indicating enough hands" said another crewman.

"Very well" the officer slipped into the Captain's chair. "Red Alert, man battle stations. Helm, bring us about to…" he checked the display, "… 010 full impulse. Weapons, target Dominion vessels and prepare to fire" and the first of the vessels in the camp got into the fight. "Well" said the officer, "Looks like we're in the jazz"

# # # # #

"What the hell was that?" Naomi exclaimed as three fighters exploded after being hit by torpedoes.

"That was not by either us or the _Flyer_" said Cannon.

"Incoming message from the _Boots Randolph_" said McAvoy, and put it on the speakers.

"Randolph _to_ Voyager" said a voice. "_We are moving to assist_" and the message cut off abruptly.

"Other ships are beginning power up sequences" science reported.

"Status of the _Trigati_?" Naomi asked as she ordered Di'et to bring the ship around so the weakest shields didn't face the incoming wave of Fighters.

"Main systems are offline as ordered" Cannon said.

"Very well" Naomi said.

"_Dibnah, Phoenix _and _William Adama_ have powered up and are moving to engage the station" science said. "Shuttles are beginning mopping up operations in the camp" they added.

"Put me through to the _Delta Flyer_" Naomi said, "And fire everything we have" she added.

"_Icheb here_"

"Icheb, we need you to cover the _Randolph_. We're going to take on the battleships"

"_Acknowledged_" and the comm link was broken by a gigantic explosion which pitched the _Voyager_ upwards and then threw it back several kilometres.

"DAMAGE REPORT!" Cannon yelled over the sounds of the alarms and the consoles sparking on overload.

"Shields are down completely. Hull breach on decks 2 through 8 – multiple sections. Emergency forcefields are holding" McAvoy said.

"Casualty reports coming through" said science. "Sickbay reports five dead, twenty critically wounded, twelve lesser injured. Seventeen people remain unaccounted for" and Naomi closed her eyes and groaned at the loss of life. She knew that figure would rise greatly.

"Most of the rest of the fleet has completed their power up sequences, and are moving to engage the enemy fleet" Cannon said. "Assault leader reports that they are attacking the last of the barracks now" she added. _Voyager_ shook as it was hit many times by different ships. Phaser, disrupter and torpedoes all hit the vessel, and Naomi wondered how long they could last.

"Captain…?" Di'et called out, and pointed towards the screen. One of the Battleships was turning and heading towards the planet's surface.

"Target all weapons" Naomi called.

"Weapons depleted or destroyed" Cannon said. "Borg weapons are powered but we can not fire them. The pathways have been damaged. I can target them, but we can not use them in any way" and the Battleship was still heading towards the planet.

"What is its impact point?" Naomi asked.

"The prison camp" said the science officer without missing a beat. He had already calculated the trajectory when he detected it moving.

"There are no other ships in range" Cannon said.

"Right" Naomi sighed. "Attention all hands, this is the Captain. Abandon ship, Abandon Ship. Get to the escape pods and as far away from _Voyager_ as possible, Wildman out" she turned to the bridge crew. "That goes for you too. It has been an honour serving with you all. I wish you well in your careers" and the only thing that filled the air was the noise of the Abandon Ship klaxon.

"Abandon Ship, Aye Aye, Captain" Cannon said. With heavy hearts, they left the bridge and headed to the escape pods. Naomi took the helm and watched on her screens as the escape pods launched from _Voyager_ and headed quickly away from it.

"Computer, divert all power to the engines. Give me ramming speed" Naomi said.

"_Acknowledged_" the computer said.

"Well we all have to pay the boatman one day" and Naomi entered the intercept course for _Voyager_ to take on the Battleship. The wounded ship leapt forwards and started to gain ground on the Dominion warship. "Christ" the girl chuckled as she wiped away the blood from the deep cut on her forehead, "But this was a good show" and the ship went merrily to its doom.

# # # # #

"SHE DID WHAT?" exclaimed Mezoti.

"_I think that the Captain is going to ram Voyager into the Battleship_" Cannon said on the audio link. Icheb cut the link and opened a channel to the other shuttles.

"_Delta Flyer_ to attack group. _Voyager_ has lost all weapons, and is going to ram the Jem'Hadar Battleship heading this way. Lets go and shoot it down before _Voyager_ has to ram it" he said quickly.

"All other shuttles report full compliance, and are heading towards the location" Azan said.

"Warp speed standing by" Rebi added.

"Engage" and the flotilla of small ships headed towards the point of expected impact.

# # # # #

"Computer, do we have any ability to fire weapons?" Naomi asked from the helm.

"_Negative_"

"Reconfigure the deflector dish to emit a series of pulsed polaron emissions" she ordered.

"_Reconfiguration complete_" the computer reported after several seconds.

"Target the Jem'Hadar Battleship on course to ram the planet" Naomi said. The ship grew larger by the second in the viewscreen, and Naomi adjusted _Voyager_'s course to account for a small bit of turbulence caused by so many torpedoes detonating at once.

"_Vessel targeted_" the computer said.

"Open a general broadcast channel…" Naomi waited for the confirmation of the opening before speaking. "I am Naomi Wildman, Captain of the _USS Voyager_. I am going to be the last thing that you ever see in your miserable lives. FIRE!" and the computer fired the reworked deflector dish. The charges lasted only a few shots, but it showed to one and all that _Voyager_ was not going down without a fight. The shots hit the Battleship and tore into the impulse engines, warp nacelles, forward weapons array and buckled the hull. "Tough little bastard aren't we?" she muttered, and then consulted her readouts. She tapped the controls and prepared to take the ship to Warp, knowing it would hit the Jem'Hadar and take it down with her. "I'll be with you soon Mom…" she whispered as her hand hovered over the Warp controls. Just as she was going to hit the Engage button, the Battleship overrode its safeties and went faster then what it was designed for. That meant that Naomi had no time to plot a new intercept course.

"_Warning, life support on Deck 12 has failed. Recommend evacuation of Deck 12_" toned the computer. Naomi looked at the Dominion vessel getting slightly smaller in her viewscreen, and a thought flashed through her mind.

"Computer, do we still have transporters?"

"_Affirmative_" it replied. Naomi went to the open Weapon Locker built into a previously unused panel, and pulled out a Phaser rifle as well as a couple of power packs she slipped into her tunic belt. She also took a couple of grenades which were on a belt she put on herself over the shoulders like a commando would do.

"Computer, beam me from the bridge to the Engineering section of the Jem'Hadar ship we are pursuing. Once transport is complete, bring the ship to a full stop" Naomi ordered.

"_Acknowledged_"

"Energise" and the curious sensation of her being taken from existence came over Naomi.

#

"Icheb, the ship has come to a full stop" Mezoti said.

"Are the engines damaged?" Icheb asked.

"No" Azan said. "_Voyager_'s engines are working fine, but there are no life signs aboard the ship at all" he didn't outright say Naomi was dead, just that it was one reason why the readings showed the way they did.

"We'll continue on our original course" said Icheb, making a decision he hoped was for the best.

#

The first thing that Naomi did was to hide in a storage room, and she waited until the coast was clear. She slipped out and followed the readings on her tricorder, but as she turned a corner she was pounced on by a pair of Jem'Hadar.

"Stop!" they said, raising their weapons. Naomi's long hours of training on _Voyager_'s return home kicked in, and she brought her rifle up and fired two shots which hit the enemy soldiers in the chest – killing them instantly.

"Oh shit…" said the girl as alarms started sounding throughout the ship. An alien voice started shouting what could only be the Dominion version of Intruder Alert. More soldiers started pouring in, and Naomi had to use one of her three grenades to clear them away, hitting them with her phaser rifle to be certain they wouldn't get back up again.

"_Your mission will fail_" said a smooth voice from the intercom. "_You will not be able to stop us from ramming into the planet and killing your pitiful group_" the male voice said.

"Dance with the devil" said Naomi under her breath. She battled her way through to the Engine room where she found the warp core throbbing in a sea of purple light which bathed the entire compartment. Several shots hit her in the arms, legs and mid chest areas, but Naomi was able to nail them right back with deadly accuracy. "Must keep awake" the girl said to herself, trying to not pass out from the blood loss due to the stuff pouring out of her, plus the blows received when she had to do hand to hand combat. She knew she had a couple of broken ribs, but ignored the pain because she would have it much longer. Taking the remaining grenades, she dialled them down to the lowest time possible and activated them. She watched as the counter ran from 10 all the way down to zero. Naomi saw the flash of them detonating, but was taken into blackness as the fire consumed the compartment.

#

"Her pattern is fluctuating" said Rebi.

"Divert all power to the pattern buffers" Icheb said.

"They are now stable. Energising" Rebi said, and Naomi's beaten and battered body appeared in front of them in the glow of the transporter.

"She needs urgent medical attention" Azan said. "I shall beam her to the station for treatment" but Naomi choose that moment to stir and wave him off.

"I'm not going" she told them firmly.

"But you are suffering from internal bleeding" said Mezoti, tears running down her face.

"This…" Naomi dragged herself to her feet by pulling on the Helm. "This is still my bridge, Mezoti. St… status report" and coughed blood onto the carpeting. She was nearly thrown to the deck once more by an explosion which shook the ship violently.

"We were hit by a torpedo in the midships portside area" Azan said.

"INCOMING!" shouted Icheb who had rushed to Tactical. "They must have fired off a few shots before they were killed" but Azan disagreed.

"They came from the other Battleship" he said. "We have one more incoming from astern – bearing 072" the boy added.

"Can we shoot it down?" asked Mezoti.

"Our weapons and shields are down, and the shuttles are heading back towards the holding areas for CSAR duties" Rebi said.

"Mezoti, take the helm" Naomi slipped into the Captain's chair before the darkness overcame her. "Full impulse on any course you want. We have to get it away from the fleet at all costs. If it hits and burrows deep into the hull before exploding, it could take out at least half the ships with our warp core detonation as well as the debris" she said, making and effort to be clear in speech.

"New heading of 001 – full impulse" Mezoti said. The torpedo kept chasing _Voyager_, and a number of the fleet moved in to shoot it down, but they couldn't get a weapons lock because a jamming package was installed aboard the torpedo.

"Range 3,500 yards" Icheb said.

"Can we…" Naomi was having trouble speaking. "Can we make it to the moon?" she asked.

"I shall attempt to do so" said Mezoti. "Azan, Rebi. I'm going to need you to disengage the safeties on the impulse drive. Once that is done, I can give us a few minutes of an extra quarter of impulse power" and the twins set to work removing the safeties.

"_That procedure is not recommended_" the computer said.

"Disengage safety systems on the impulse controls" "Naomi said.

"_That action is unsafe_, _and should not be attempted_" the computer said.

"Override by Captain's order. Authorisation Flotter T Water III" Naomi spoke calmly and clearly, not paying attention to the fact her body temperatures had dropped and she was shaking.

"Range opening to 4,500 yards" Icheb said. "Torpedo still incoming. Even with the extra speed we will not make the moon" he apologised.

"But we do have something else" Rebi said. "If the torpedo is following us, then we should set a ramming course for the Battleship. If we pull off at the last moment, the torpedo will hit the Battleship and go sky high" and Mezoti quickly turned _Voyager_ to starboard and put her on a direct collision course for the Battleship which started hitting them with fire.

"They're going for the engines" Mezoti said. "I don't know if we'll be able to keep them online for much longer" the girl added.

"Maintain course and speed" said Naomi. "At four seconds to impact, rotate the ship to port and head as far away as possible" she ordered.

"Aye Aye" Mezoti knew this was no time for messing around.

"Range 3,700 yards" Icheb said. "Torpedo impact in thirty three seconds" he added.

"Impact with the Battleship in thirty two seconds" and with Mezoti's statement came the terrible reality that the plan would fail. Silence filled the bridge as they looked at each other and Naomi looked at each of her friends in turn before speaking.

"It has been an honour to serve with you. Mezoti, all power to the engines. Give me ramming speed"

"Ramming speed, Aye Captain" and the ship continued to shake from the punding it took. Consoles sparked as they overloaded, but nobody bothered to hit the cut off buttons under the circumstances.

"Incoming ships" Icheb said.

#

_USS Indefatigable_

_NCC 1794_

"We are within weapon's range" said Lieutenant Hornblower.

"Target the enemy ship and signal the other ships to fire" said his captain, Captain Pellew. The powerful weapons of the five _Akira_ class vessels locked onto the Battleship and opened fire. "_Indefatigable_ to_ Voyager_. We've been monitoring your situation – hang on to your hats" and at that moment all five ships opened up with everything but the kitchen sink. The Battleship went up in an explosion so powerful the shockwave went through the system and therefore felt by every ship present.

#

"St…" Naomi felt really bad by now. "Status report" she coughed more blood out from her punctured lungs.

"Both Jem'Hadar battleships have been destroyed. Most of the Fighters have either been destroyed or otherwise been disabled. The Prison camp has been mostly liberated. Assault Leader reports they have come up against heavy resistance in some bunkers under the ground. All ships have been powered up and are in the fight. Not every ship has its original crew though" Azan said, referring to the fact that in the haste to get the ships into the battle, one Ensign had done a beaming of the nearest to him. This caused the bridge of the _Moscow_ to be populated entirely by Captains during the fight.

"Remaining Dominion vessels have turned and are heading out of the system on impulse" Mezoti said. "The _Miranda_s and the sole _Soyuz _are asking for permission to pursue" she added.

"Take them out" Naomi said firmly. She wanted this battle to be over with as quickly as possible.

"_Voyager_ to _Miranda_ and _Soyuz_ class ships… tear 'em up" and that was an order happily complied with. Over the years they had been held in the camps, they had seen good friends and family die for sport. Coupled with the torture they had received at the hands of the entire armed might of the Dominion, there was some payback to be handed out.

"Have the _Excelsior_s and the one _Ambassador_ ships form up alongside us. _Akira_ and _Steamrunner _vessels to take the flanks. All other vessels apart from the pursuers are to gathering in the middle behind us" Naomi quickly made a decision. "We are going to attack the station" and the fleet formed into a powerful battle line and headed towards the station. Despite being restricted to manual firing only, there was a considerable threat to the Starfleet vessels from the haphazard firing by the station's occupiers. Without putting the rest of her fleet in danger, Naomi brought them to just within weapons range where they proceeded to beat the living crap out of the base.

"Assault leader reports that all resistance except for that in the tunnels and bunkers has ended on the planet's surface, and that they have taken prisoners for themselves. All enemy vessels have been destroyed or disabled" Azan completed the report.

"Stand the fleet down to Yellow Alert" Naomi said. "Begin checks of all ships. Lets get the damage shored up before repairing. Tend to the wounded though first. Icheb, you have the bridge"

"I have the bridge" and he slipped smoothly into the seat that his friend had just vacated by virtue of passing out from blood loss.

# # # # #

Because of the advanced treatments and skills around all the ships, Naomi was at least on her feet within 12 hours. It had taken twice that time to finally force the resistance to end their fighting. With a phaser rifle hanging off her hip, Naomi took the formal surrender of the last combat division of the Dominion. The highest ranking Cardassian signed the surrender papers with an air of tiredness.

"And so it ends…" he sighed.

"Security, place these people under arrest. Confine them to the Cargo Holds on the _Trigati_" Cannon said. They had boarded the ship with the aid of the remaining members of its crew still at the camp. The first thing they had done was to sweep the ship for hidden dangers before converting the cargo bays into holding cells for the prisoners. Security for them was provided by a detachment from each ship from the newly freed fleet. The entire kit and caboodle would be taken back to Starfleet were they would be held as Prisoners of War. They lost another 45 people in the attack, and that brought the total number of dead to 50. This was a small price to pay for freeing so many people, but it was a price Naomi would have preferred to not be paying. Their bodies, plus the remains of those killed at the hands of the Jem'Hadar were placed into status in the cargo holds of their respective ships with an honour guard over the pods. They would return back to their respective home worlds for descent burial. Admiral Liu and the staff on Starbase 12 would return to Starfleet Command for a full debriefing before shipping out to their duties once more. However because Starfleet thought they would all dead, and Admiral Liu was undergoing major surgery, Naomi was the senior most officer of the entire fleet.

With everyone working their hardest, _Voyager_ was fully repaired within 12 hours, and all the damage had been fixed and the ship put to rights. The ships gathered in formation with _Voyager_ sitting on the point of a great spear in space. At a command from Naomi, they jumped to Warp 9.63 on a direct course to Earth. Whilst on the way to Earth with what amounted to a small battle fleet, Naomi took herself and her friends off the watch roster and they spent time in one of _Voyager_'s holodecks swimming with Flotter, and using Treevis to float down the river so they could take on the giant beetle at the castle. They spent three full days inside just having fun together for the first time like this in ages, and as Naomi and Mezoti looked at the holographic sky, the Norcadian looked at her friend who had had to do a lot of growing up quickly. She had been ready to sacrifice her life to save the lives of her friends, her crew and people she didn't even know by ramming _Voyager_ into the Jem'Hadar Battleship. When that had failed, she had attempted to ensure her mission was completed by attempting a suicide bombing of the warp core – thereby causing the complete destruction of the ship. She was lucky enough to be caught by the sensors of _Voyager_ once the occupants of the _Delta_ _Flyer_ had beamed directly to the bridge. There was one secret that Mezoti wanted to share with her best friend, but she was sure that it would end said friendship. However, she had learned long ago with _Voyager_'s original crew and those she had got to know after her arrival in the Alpha Quadrant, that it was better to say what was needed to be said.

"Naomi?"

"Yes, Mez?" Naomi said, using her friends nickname.

"I have to tell you something" Mezoti said, steeling herself for the forthcoming slap on the face and a comment that there friendship was over.

"What?" Naomi opened an eye and looked to her left to see her best friend was troubled by something.

"I love you"


	6. Taking Out Section 31

**Taking Out Section 31**

"We are approaching the edge of Sector 001" Di'et said.

"Understood" Icheb said. "Bridge to Captain. We have arrived at Sector 001"

"_I am on my way_" Naomi's voice filtered over the speakers. Minutes later she stepped out of the turbolift.

"Captain on the bridge" Cannon said.

"As you were" Naomi said. "I have the bridge" she said to Icheb.

"You have the bridge" he acknowledged. "All ships in the fleet report that they are fully operational" and Naomi smiled at her friend and acting First Officer.

"Drop out of Warp, and have the fleet go to Red Alert" she ordered.

"All hands and all ships, this is _Voyager_. Red Alert – stand to battlestations" Cannon said over the fleet comm channel.

"Hail Starfleet Command" Naomi said. "Admiral Paris's office" she added.

"_You completed your mission_" the Admiral smiled moments afterwards. "_Words can not express how pleased the fleet is of what you have done, in addition to your great accomplishments with _Voyager" and Naomi let him go on with the normal before getting to the point in hand.

"Is this a secured channel?" she asked. Paris's eyes widened a little before he looked down and pressed a button on his desk computer.

"_It is now_" he said. "_Now can you tell me why you are on a secured comm link with what appears to be your entire fleet at Red Alert?_" and Naomi nodded and took a moment to figure out what she was going to say.

"Admiral, this mission was saboutaged by a spy onboard. He was working with a group of Federation in league with the Dominion. The spy was none other then Commander Woodhead. When we went through his quarters, we found his equipment and several messages in code. Admiral… there is something else but I think you should get a shuttle and come here at once and see it. Even on a secured comm link, I do not want to take the chance the information is intercepted. We are at battlestations because of what I have to show you"

"_Very well_" Paris said. "_I'll make arrangements to have myself flown out to your location at once. Paris out_"

#

"My god…" Paris said. "I can't believe it at all" but the visual evidence was all in front of him. Two black hulled _Defiant_ class ships were sat close by the two Dominion battleships.

"The messages had us confused regarding the sender and receiver, but then Woodhead came running onto the bridge demanding to know why we hadn't told him of the spying we had just done. As the only ones to know would have been the bridge crew plus Icheb, it follows that Woodhead was the spy. He said as much when he assaulted and nearly killed me when I relived him of duty" Naomi said.

"And he was in contact with the Dominion forces?" Paris wanted to know better.

"Yes, Admiral" said Mezoti. "The S31 confused us for a while, but after the way Woodhead spoke to Naomi and the bridge crew, we guessed S31 stood for Section 31" and everyone shuddered at the rumoured group named after an article in the Federation Charter.

"Given that those two _Defiant_s are not in the registry, one wonders how many other ships they have under their command" Azan said.

"We do however know the high ranking members of the group, and we can take those out at any moment" Rebi added.

"You know the leader of the group?" Paris asked who it was.

"According to the information gathered from the microcomputers found in Woodhead's quarters, the head of Section 31 is Admiral Nechayev" Naomi said. Admiral Paris nearly dropped through the entire heart of _Voyager_ at the revelation. "I can't believe that she would work with the Dominion to stage an incident for an invasion of Klingon space"

"But she has worked on many projects that were for the good of the Federation" Paris said.

"Admiral, we've had a lot of time to go over this on the way back" Icheb said, "And we've gone through every scrap of information we can get our hands on" and he pressed a button on the monitor in the briefing room. It showed up panels of information as he went along explaining. "Over the last seven years, Admiral Nechayev has been the head of Starfleet Intelligence. She also commands the _USS Sovereign_ which is one of the most powerful starships ever built. There is evidence to suggest that she worked with the unknown aliens during her time as Admiral Commanding Starbase 12, prior to Admiral Liu taking over that is. She has also been involved with heavy weapons projects, stealth technology developments and was briefly head of Starfleet Intelligence. Without disrespect to Naomi, her actions in agreeing with putting Naomi back in command of _Voyager_ for this mission was suspicious. I know your reasons, Sir, but one would expect her to disagree to it. She was the one to personally assign Woodhead to this ship as First Officer, and they both have served in the same departments at the same time" and Naomi looked at Paris who was trying to comprehend the scale of what Section 31 had done.

"Admiral, we have to arrest her at once" Naomi said, "before she does anyth..." she was cut off by the impact of torpedoes hitting _Voyager_'s shields. Abandoning the meeting altogether, the officers rushed onto the bridge where they saw a dozen _Defiant_ class vessels approaching with the _Sovereign_ in the middle of them. They appeared to be of the same type as the two seen in the unknown system talking to the Battleships

"Report!" shouted Paris.

"The _Sovereign_ fired a full spread of torpedoes at us after the entire group dropped out of warp" reported the tactical officer.

"Hail it" Naomi ordered.

"On screen" and the image of Admiral Nechayev appeared on the main viewscreen.

"_Admiral Paris_" she opened.

"What do you think you are doing?" he thundered at his counterpart.

"_Protecting the Federation by any means_" Nechayev replied calmly. "_We must be the rulers of the entire Alpha Quadrant, and if that means consorting with former enemies, then so be it_"

"How the hell did you build so many ships?" Paris asked the rogue woman.

"_We built them at a number of classified bases on the edge of Federation space. It took some effort I admit, but it was needed to take the needed steps to provide for defence of what is ours_" Nechayev replied.

"You are under arrest" Paris said. "Order your ships to stand down" but Nechayev shook her head.

"_We are going to take over Starfleet" she said. "We have people in every key department. You can not stop us. Just surrender and join us as we make the Federation mighty once again! Your only other choice is to die. You have ten seconds to comply_" and her image blinked off the screen.

"Enemy ships powering up all weapons – locking on" Cannon said.

"What are your orders, Admiral?" asked Naomi.

"I... I don't know" Paris said. Seconds later, _Voyager_ was bombarded by phaser, phaser cannon and torpedo fire.

"Incoming messages. The fleet wants to know what to do" Mezoti said.

"Shields down to 78%" Cannon said.

"Do we fight or do we make a run for it?" asked Naomi.

"I don't know" Paris said.

"Wildman to Security. Send a detachment to the bridge" Naomi spoke to the comm. The bridge crew wondered what it was that needed a team on the bridge. Nechayev's ships just sat and fired at _Voyager_ and the fleet rescued from the Dominion prison camp. The Admiral just stood there and looked at the ships firing at him and the fleet.

"Security reporting as ordered" the squad leader said as they stepped off the turbolift.

"Admiral, we are taking heavy fire. What are your orders?" Naomi asked.

"We can't shoot back in case we destroy them" Paris said, unable to think of ordering the fleet to attack.

"Security, Admiral Paris has become incapable of acting and is mentally impaired. As Captain of this vessel, I hereby order you to remove him from the bridge" Naomi looked the leader right in the eye.

"Are you sure..."?

"Admiral Paris is mentally unfit to command. Remove him from the bridge" Naomi said. "Mezoti, tell the fleet it is weapons free, and to fire at will. They are to attempt to disable if possible, but we are to remove the threat at once by destroying them if need be" Naomi said, watching as the detachment dragged Paris from the bridge.

"Fleet is responding" Cannon said.

"Send a message to Starfleet Command" Naomi said, but Mezoti shook her head.

"Communications are being jammed by Nechayev" she told her friend.

"Three more _Defiant_ class vessels are incoming" McAvoy called out. "Same configuration as the ones attacking us now"

"Di'et, bring us about to face the _Sovereign_" Naomi slipped into the Captain's chair with practiced ease. "Have the _Excelsior_s, the _Adelphi_ and the _Trigati_ form up with us to attack the _Sovereign_. All other ships are to attempt to disable the _Defiants_, but don't mind too much if they blow them to pieces" Naomi issued the orders no Federation Captain would ever thought they would have to give. "Fire" and the fleet finally returned the fire from the ships of Section 31. The lone _Soyuz_ ship joined its sister in making a strafing run on the _Sovereign_ before swinging round to assault the incoming _Defiant_s. The heavy cruisers and _Voyager_ went toe to toe with the flagship of Nechayev's, and they all took a lot of damage. The _Defiant_s held well against their cousins, but even they could not withstand a direct assault by a wing of _Akira_ class ships on an attack vector. Four of them were disabled by a tactic of concentrating every ship's phasers into one area, weakening it before the _Akira_s fired torpedoes directly into the engineering sections of the ships. The crews knew that people were getting injured and killed by what they were doing, but everyone knew that Section 31 had to be stopped at any cost from their terrible plans.

#

"Report!" Nechayev screamed at her executive officer.

"Admiral, we've lost forward shields. Our aft torpedo launchers don't respond. Damage control reports it needs about 20 minutes to recycle the launch tube computers"

"Damn those 20 minutes. Launch them manually" Nechayev ordered, not caring at all about the lives she was throwing away on both sides.

"Our hull is starting to buckle on Deck 6, section 13-D" said her Operations officer.

"Get those shields back online" Nechayev glanced at him. "Tactical, forget the other ships… tear _Voyager_ to pieces"

"Yes, Admiral" came the enthusiastic reply. He was a Section 31 operative, and he had served behind enemy lines during the Dominion War. "Admiral, our weapons just lost power"

"Bridge to engineering. What the fucking hell is going on down there?" Nechayev called down.

"_It isn't us, Admiral. We're seeing massive shut downs on all major syste…_" and the engineer's voice was cut off as the comm system went offline.

"Impulse drive is offline" reported helm.

"Go to thrusters"

"Aye, Sir" and a few taps of the button later, "Thrusters offline, Admiral. She is not answering to helm" and Naomi's voice filtered throughout the ship on an overridden comm system.

"_This is Captain Naomi Wildman of the _USS Voyag…"

#

"…_er. _I order you to surrender yourself, your ship and your fleet. Failure to comply may result in more casualties" she finished.

"No response" Rebi said.

"_Sickbay to the bridge_" the Doctor called up.

"Bridge here"

"_I regret to inform you four people have died due to plasma burns they received. The Security team escorting Admiral Paris from the bridge have brought him here because he looked unwell. I have diagnosed he was having a heart attack, and this made him incapable of making command decisions_" the Doctor said.

"Is the Admiral alive?" asked Naomi.

"_Barely" _said the hologram in reply._ "However I have placed him into suspended animation until we can get him to Starfleet Medical. I shall keep you advised if something should fail, Sickbay out_"

"Well at least there will be no court martial" Cannon said with a hopeful tone.

"Captain!" McAvoy called out. "_Sovereign_ has activated her Auto Destruct system. Detonation in five minutes"

"Is she launching escape pods?"

"No" replied Icheb. "According to sensors, she is just sitting there"

"Link up with the computer over there" Naomi ordered, "Use the _Sovereign_'s prefix code to gain control of her systems. Once we have control, I want you to override the Auto Destruct sequence and shut it down. Then deploy the knock out gas all over the ship, but leave sickbay alone. I don't want to kill people who could otherwise have been saved" she added.

"Message coming in from the _William Adama_" called out Azan. "They report seven _Defiant_s have been disabled, one blew itself up before they could do anything and the remaining four are engaged in battle. The _Miranda_/_Soyuz_ group reports two ships disabled and one still in the fight" and Naomi chewed that bit of information over in her mind.

"Have the fleet beam over Security teams and take charge of the disabled vessels. If anybody resists, then they are authorised to use terminal force if that is the last option to defend themselves. Once they are secured, stuff them all in the Cargo Bays on the _Trigati_. I am quite sure that the current guests will love that" Icheb said with a vicious grin on his face.

"I like your style" commented Di'et.

"_Sovereign_'s self destruct has been rendered inactive, gas has been deployed but several people remaining moving. I think they might have used the emergency masks or got into suits" McAvoy said.

"Naomi?" called Mezoti.

"What is it?"

"All remaining _Defiant_s have powered down weapons and shields" she said. "Combat has ceased except in clearing operations on already captured ships. The fleet reports moderate casualties and damage on all vessels. Seems the smaller ships were shooting the torpedoes out of the air" Mezoti added.

"Captains on all remaining ships are surrendering directly to you" Icheb said.

"Stand the fleet down to Yellow Alert, dispatch a message to Starfleet Command – Priority One. Inform them of what has happened and request a medical ship comes to our aid" Naomi said.

"Aye, Captain" McAvoy said.

"Security stands ready to beam over to the _Sovereign_ and secure her" Cannon said.

"Have them ready to beam over, but wait until I get down to the transporter room. Azan, Icheb, Mezoti, Rebi. You're with me. Cannon, you have the bridge. Have the Doctor meet us with a medical team fully suited" Naomi said, getting out her seat and heading to the turbolift as she spoke.

"Captain, where are you going?" asked Cannon.

"I am going to lead the parties in the boarding action" Naomi sometimes wondered why adults didn't get what she was thinking of.

"May I remind the Captain that the _Sovereign_ holds unknown dangers?" Cannon said formally. "I respectfully submit that she doesn't beam over to the ship" but Naomi shook her head.

"I want to look Nechayev in the eyes as I force her to turn over her command to me" the girl replied.

"I wish to object, and request that my protest be entered into the log" Cannon said.

"Your objection is noted" Naomi told her. "You have the bridge" and the doors closed and zipped the friends away from the bridge.

"I think" Di'et spoke quietly from the helm, "That I'll take early retirement" and the bridge sniggered at Cannon's discomfort.

# # # # #

The medical ship _Christine Chapel_ arrived direct from Spacedock, and took the most badly injured from both sides of the conflict. Nechayev was forced to give up her command after a brief firefight on the bridge of the _Sovereign_ – one that injured Mezoti and Icheb when they were drilled in the shoulders by rather accurate phaser fire from a _Sovereign_ officer. Nearly all of the crews from the entire Section 31 fleet were put in the converted cells in the _Trigati_ cargo bays, the brigs through out the fleet and the shuttle bay on the _Excelsior _vessels. The only ones not in confinement were the engineers removing the self destruct packages from their ships – under the watchful guard of Security. Every ship had been completely powered down and was running on battery power only. The final humiliation came when they arrived at Utopia Planetia as nearly every visual sensor was turned their way to watch the ships being dragged in under tractor beams in shame and in disgrace.

_Voyager_ offloaded her injured crewmembers at the facility, picked up a few needed parts and then escorted the _Trigati_ back to Spacedock. Naomi relieved Di'et from the helm as they passed the Moon, and she took it into the giant orbiting facility herself – making a smooth manual sequence and winning the Christmas turkey for that year. Once a connection had been made with the transfer crossovers, a number of Starfleet Intelligence had come aboard and removed Woodhead from the brig to be interrogated before he stood before a Court Martial board. He would have faced one anyway for assaulting his commanding officer without good cause. The good cause measure was there for the take over of an officer's mind by an alien race.

"I am proud of you" said Greskrendtregk. He had come aboard _Voyager_ almost as soon as she had finished docking manoeuvres.

"You don't know how much that means to me, Dad" Naomi said, tears shimmering in her eyes. One of her greatest fears on the way to the Alpha Quadrant was that her father would reject her. When she met him for the first time on Starbase 375, she told him that she had killed people. Greskrendtregk had replied that it didn't matter, and that she had done what was needed to protect the lives of herself and her friends. The fact that she showed regret for the loss of live proved she was not evil.

"I don't think I ever will do" her father replied, though he had a good idea anyway on the level he loved her!

"I, for one, am glad that the debriefings are over for today" said Icheb.

"I was tempted to call for a Borg attack to liven things up" Mezoti giggled.

"I suggest that we all go home now and have a nice meal before you rest. I am certain this has all been tiring" Greskrendtregk said. One of the advantages of being a Captain for Naomi, was that she could call up to Spacedock and have them beamed up and then beamed directly to the home they all lived in. they had a massive dinner and talked about what they had heard on the news channels about what had happened after Woodhead was interrogated. In exchange for his information, he'd plead guilty to all charges, would be reduced in rank to Crewman and put in medium security stockade on Tarsus II for a period of 20 years, with a review of his record after half that time. Woodhead gave information on every single Section 31 agent he knew about, their secret bases and ships. Working in secret, Starfleet Command worked quickly and quietly to pull every single _Galaxy_, _Sovereign_ and _Defiant_ class ship from their patrol routes and to these locations. Some fierce battles took place, and a number of lives were lost. A couple of prototype ships attempted to escape over the border to Klingon space, but Martok, alerted by Starfleet, decloaked three battle fleets and obliterated nearly every ship. The two remaining ships surrendered to Martok whom then turned them over to the Federation for trial. Anybody that was missed off the list got rid of any incriminating materials and never mentioned that they were part of a subversive group.


	7. The Last Commission

**The Last Commission**

The ships from Section 31 which were captured were examined carefully by Starfleet's Engineering Corp and then placed into service patrolling the Bajoran sector after they had joined the Federation. Although the Dominion had long since been defeated, the Gamma Quadrant was still an unexplored place and new and powerful species were found – making the need for powerful ships a must to defend the Wormhole. Of the _Defiant_s formally under the agency's control, most were repaired and placed into regular service. The remaining three were eventually repaired and one was turned over to the Academy for training cruises – much like the _Valiant_ had been. The other two were turned over to the Advanced Tactical school and used in the training of crews in the operations of _Defiant_ class ships. The _Sovereign_ was repaired, given a proper crew and went on to have an extraordinary career. Amongst its many battle honours, it participated in the defence of the Klingon homeworld from the House of Duras. Although its Captain had been ordered not to interfere with what was an internal Klingon affair, Naomi, on the ship because _Voyager_ was in dry-dock for repairs and was getting a ride to the Klingon homeworld anyway, pulled rank and assumed command of the vessel after Martok's vessel issued a general distress call. Because it mentioned _any_ ships, Naomi engaged and protected the _Rotarran_ until more Klingons could arrive. The ceremony Naomi was attending in the first place was to induct her into the House of Martok as a full member. Naomi had been honoured at that, and she had spent time on the ceremony's phrasing. The High Council was therefore surprised when they spoke English for Naomi, that she replied in Klingonese the ceremony should be in Klingon, and she would be more then happy to take on anybody who disagreed with a Bat'leth.

# # # # #

It was decided by Starfleet that _Voyager_ should be retired to the Fleet Museum, and so Command sent it on a goodbye tour of the Federation and all allied states, unions and empires. The Romulans awarded the group with the Romulan Star Empire Medal 1st Class for their help in finishing the Dominion War. Naomi and friends decided not to comment it was a little bit late. The next stop, the Klingons, ended with seventeen hours of drinking bloodwine and telling more and more unbelievable stories. Naomi therefore took the bridge with a slight headache and hangover. However, all things must come to an end and _Voyager_ disembarked most of her crew, leaving only Naomi and her command crew aboard, as well as her father. He had been cured in the intervening years, of his illness and decided to take this final cruise of the ship with his daughters and their friends.

"Captain on the bridge" Icheb called as Naomi walked out of the turbolift.

"Status report?" Naomi asked, slipping into the Captain's seat. She could feel the spirits of both her mother and Captain Janeway through the arm rests. The girl lovingly felt the very much worn padding and fingered the groove that had been made by different people putting their elbow at the same spot on the left arm rest.

"Starbase 375 has cleared us to depart" Azan said.

"Lets get under weigh" said Naomi. "Mezoti, set course for the Return – Warp 5" she ordered.

"Course is set" her friend replied.

"Take us out" and with that simple order, _Voyager_ headed away from the station and off towards the location that _Voyager_ had returned from the Delta Quadrant. After the war was over, the allies redrew the borders of the Cardassian Union so that the location now fell inside Federation space. Once clear, the four hour trip began with the jump to warp.

"_Sickbay to the Bridge_" the Doctor called.

"Go ahead" Rebi took the call.

"_We are just about to leave the secondary Sickbay for the last time. I just wanted to put it in the log_" the hologram said.

"Logged" Rebi said.

"_Understood_" the hologram replied, and he closed the channel without further comment.

#

A few hours later, Naomi and her friends returned to the bridge for a solemn marking.

"Approaching the Return" reported Cannon, rising from the centre seat. With few torpedoes aboard, and only a skeleton crew aboard there was no need for the Tactical station to be manned. Cannon therefore let it run under automatic computer control for the rest of the trip. She was remaining on board until they put in at Deep Space Nine for de-storing before heading back to Spacedock and entry to the Fleet Museum. Out of _Voyager_'s final compliment of just over 150 people, only 25 remained onboard as a skeleton crew. Most of them were an engine room crew – keeping an eye on the warp core and all systems. Whilst on the goodwill tour, they had been fixing broken systems all over the ship. If the vessel was going to be decommissioned, then they wanted it going down on record as Starfleet having decommissioned a service ready starship. Apart from Cannon and the engineering crew, only Di'et and the two medical technicians remained aboard plus one person who was getting a lift on the ship as far as Deep Space Nine.

"Bring us out of warp, and put it on the main screen" Naomi said, taking the vacated chair. Millions of stars burst forth on the bridge simulscreens.

"Confirm clear of encroachments, Lieutenant" Icheb ordered. Cannon checked the readouts as she'd been taught.

"An encroachment, Captain! Course one three five, distance twenty thousand kilometres!"

"That'll be the beacon" Mezoti said. After a time Rebi seemed affected; and he fiddled with the magnification until suddenly he caught the lettering on the beacon's side. He spun up maximum magnification, and the letters "_NCC 74656 – USS Voyager_" filled the screen. Di'et manoeuvred the ship to within a half kilometre the beacon. Naomi looked at the flashing beacon taken from _Voyager_'s own stores years before and spoke to the crew, who would be crowding, no doubt, the portholes for a view of the beacon

"Attention all hands, this is the Captain. We are now at rest relative to the arrival point of the _USS Voyager_, returned to the Alpha Quadrant three years, two months and three days ago. Many of us will never pass this place again. It has become custom, for this ship sailing this road, to pause to pay our respects to the memory of those lost on the journey home. We will shortly launching the wreath. Should all crew members wish to attend the service, then they should put their stations on automatic and be at the mess hall in fifteen minutes. Captain, out" and with that, Naomi cleared the channel and looked around the bridge. "I'll be in the ready room" and with a few tears falling from her face, she left the bridge under Icheb's charge and walked off.

"Should I go in?" asked Mezoti.

"I would leave her for the moment" said Greskrendtregk. "Today she is mourning not just the loss of her mother, but shortly the loss of her first home" Naomi's father said with a heavy tone.

"I'll get a suit ready for her" said Di'et. "Every year after the wreath is laid; she goes out and uses the entire oxygen limit up. The kid doesn't do anything, she just sits there with her comm off"

"Although there is no evidence to say she is" began Icheb, "I would guess she is communicating with the crew" and it was clear to one and all he was not referring to the current number of people onboard.

# # # # #

"Set course for Deep Space Nine" Cannon said to Di'et.

"Course set and laid into the computer" came the reply.

"Engage" and Cannon made a shooting motion with her fingers.

"Chanelling a bit of the ol' Picard are we, Denise?" Di'et said with a laugh.

"You should talk" retorted Cannon. "I saw that holodeck program you was running the other night. '_Wonder Wildman_' wasn't it?" and Di'et went a brilliant shade of red.

"I… was just running it out of curiosity" Di'et said. Cannon kept laughing until Di'et made the ship shake enough to knock her counterpart off her feet.

"_Captain to Bridge_"

"Bridge here" Di'et said.

"Please _don't do that again, Rankush. And stop winding Rankush up, Denise_" Naomi's voice said. "_Otherwise I'm coming up there and banging heads together_"

"How does she do that?" whispered Di'et.

"Because I am standing right behind you" Naomi's voice made the pair turn around, and sure enough, the girl was standing there at the rear of the bridge.

"Oh, Captain" said Cannon. "We had a little imbalance of the warp drive, but it is right out of the system now" but Naomi didn't believe that for a moment.

"I relieve the pair of you from duty for the rest of the shift" she said. "Just get a room, will you please?" and the other two officers rapidly rushed for the turbolift. "I seriously don't get paid enough…" Naomi muttered, and slipped into the Captain's chair to commune with her ship alone for a little while. It was indeed a little while as the Operations console began chiming for attention. "Computer, report" she requested.

"_There is an incoming message from the planet Bajor_" the computer said dryly.

"Open a channel" Naomi ordered, and the viewscreen changed from the stars streaking by to the face of a smiling Saghi.

"_Afternoon, Captain Wildman_" said the young Bajoran girl.

"Drop the bull, Saw" Naomi said. "How are you doing?" she enquired.

"_I am doing well. This year's Kava berry crop might well be the making of us_" Saghi replied.

"Well we're heading your way" Naomi said. "Send a couple of bottles up to the station, would you?" and the Bajoran nodded.

"_I was going to call you to pass on my regards and regrets for Voyager's decommissioning_" Saghi said. "_But I was going to call you for an entirely different reason_" and this piqued Naomi's interest.

"What do you mean?"

"_Naomi… The Prophets sent somebody to see me in my sleep last night_" Saghi said.

"While I'm pleased you are speaking to me about it, shouldn't you call a Vedek or somebody" Naomi said.

"_It was your mother_" Saghi said.

"Mommy?" Naomi said.

"_I think you better get down here, and meet me at the temple containing the Orb of Time_" Saghi said.

"Well we have three days docked at DS9, so I suppose I could take the _Flyer_ and head over" Naomi said.

"_You should come over as soon as you can_" said her friend. "_The vision was quite… insistent about meeting you. I couldn't speak for a long time, because of some higher reason the Prophets decided not to tell me, but I know it is your mother from all those pictures. I got the impression there were a few others who wanted to speak as well, but your mother was the strongest connection they could make_" Saghi smiled. "And I'll have some Uttaberry pie ready for you on the table" and Naomi smiled right back.

"I'll be there in a few hours" she said.

"_Meet you there then. Bye_" and Saghi waved as Naomi did the same.

"Computer, increase speed to Warp 9 and recompute ETA" Naomi ordered.

"ETA at Deep Space Nine now at 15 minutes"

# # # # #

A quarter of an hour later, _Voyager_ dropped out of warp close to the station, and Naomi exchanged pleasantries with Colonel Kira as the ship docked. Despite hating all of the trappings, the Bajorans had still mounted an honour guard at the airlock. They were always grateful to her for rescuing Saghi from the destroyed transport ship. After exchanging some small talk, Naomi left Deep Space Nine and headed on the short trip to Bajor aboard the _Delta Flyer_ – alone per her request. She went through orbital approach with little trouble, and made a textbook landing in the field behind the home Saghi lived in. It had been left to her by her parents after they had died from an epidemic. _Voyager_ had nearly blown herself to pieces as she rushed with the vaccine, but it was too late for Saghi's parents.

"Hi Naomi" said the girl in question. Naomi hopped off the rear of the _Delta Flyer_ and hugged her. Although she was supposed to meet her at the temple, there was not a large enough clear space to take the unique shuttle. They went in and chatted for a while before using the transporter on the _Flyer_ to go over to the Temple.

# # # # #

The pair of them walked down the stone passage of the temple, and Naomi was still awed by the artwork displayed on the walls. She and Saghi were stopped by a Vedek at the entrance to the inner temple.

"I can not allow you to pass" he said.

"She is here to see the Kai" Saghi said.

"That may be so, but only you may enter. Your companion is not of the faith, and so can not enter the inner temple" and Naomi looked at Saghi.

"Its alright" she said. "I'll just wait outside here for the Kai. Be sure to mention that it was me that saved you from certain death. Oh, and tell her the Emissary says hello" Naomi added, then watched the brain in the tall and elderly man jump to impulse. The Emissary was not of the faith, but the Prophets had chosen him in their divine wisdom. The man decided that the Prophets had asked Sisko to deliver a message. What had actually happened was that Sisko had appeared to Kira in a dream and had given her instructions.

"Wait here" he said, and turned around walked into the temple. He came back several minutes later with permission for Naomi to enter the inner temple. The pair were led to the Kai who was stood waiting for the girls.

"I trust you had no problem getting here?" asked the Kai. She was a portly woman, but had a smile that could rival a few dozen warp cores.

"There was a little bit of a misunderstanding entering the Inner Temple. The Vedek did not realise who Naomi was, Your Eminence" Saghi said, kissing the Kai's hand.

"You are the great Naomi Wildman?" asked the woman.

"I am, Your Eminence" Naomi replied.

"I have wanted to meet you for some time, but all this praying and talking really eats up my free time" the Kai laughed. Saghi couldn't believe that the religious leader of Bajor was joking like that!

"If time permits, I would be glad to take you on a tour of _Voyager_" Naomi said. "We arrived ahead of time, so we have an extra day docked at Deep Space Nine. After business here, we could take you in the morning in the _Flyer_ and drop you back off here on our way home. We're heading homeward bound for decommissioning and conversion into a museum" the girl added. "In fact" Naomi continued, "I extend an invitation to you for a tour aboard _Voyager_" and the Kai smiled and accepted the invite.

"I thank you, my child" the woman said. "Now I believe your friend has told you about the reason for your visit here today" and Naomi nodded.

"She said the Prophets have allowed her to speak to me, but as my mother wasn't a follower of the Bajoran faith I don't understand how" she finished.

"Ah..." the Kai spoke sagely, "High powers work in mysterious ways" and with that she led both Naomi and Saghi to the room where the Orb of time was contained.

# # # # #

The first thing Naomi noticed was the whiteness of everything around her.

"Hello?" she called.

"Naomi..." a very familiar voice called back. Naomi turned in the direction of her name and saw her mother 'moving' towards her.

"Mom?" Naomi whispered.

"Yes, Naomi, its me" her mother said.

"But how...?" she breathed.

"The Prophets decided that as you had done a lot for the side of good, they would let me and some of the crew speak to you. Ceres did a lot of begging as it turns out. I'm here because, although I believe... believed in God, it is the only way to communicate with you. I can only do this once though, so we must make the best use of time that we can" Samantha Wildman said.

"Mom? What is death like?"

"Death? Its like being on holiday with a bunch of Germans" Samantha smiled at the thought before speaking it. Moments later, the whiteness vanished and was replaced with the image of the Mess Hall on _Voyager_. All of the crew she knew so well were there, with the girl spending what seemed like hours and hours going from one to another. Everybody told her that they were proud of her for getting herself, her friends and her ship back to the Alpha Quadrant safely. It was also pleasing to see that she had slapped down Starfleet when they had wanted to scuttle the ship because of the damage sustained. The most surprising was that Seven was smiling openly, and proclaimed that 'Death was irrelevant' in only the way the former drone could get away with. However, Samantha told her daughter they had only a few minutes left to speak.

"I don't want to go" Naomi sniffed through the tears that fell from her eyes and down her cheeks.

"We have to" said her mother. "Honey. I know you're feeling sad right now but, I want you to listen to me very carefully, okay? First of all, I love you. Second, I want you to know that I'm proud of you. How smart you are, how funny, how kind you are to other people, and I know that you are going to grow up to do extraordinary things. Last, and I know this is a hard one, try not to be scared" and Naomi nodded in grim acceptance.

"Do you think I could have one last thing?" the girl asked.

"If we have time" her mother replied.

"Can you put me to bed?" she begged. "I want to see your face as I go to sleep one last time" and her mother nodded, and the rest of the crew waved Naomi goodbye before they and the scenery changed and they stood in the Wildman quarters. Everything was just as it was when Samantha had been alive, and they went through the familiar routine of getting ready for bed, before Naomi was covered by the blankets, kissed goodnight and her eyes drooped down in sleep.

"Goodnight, Naomi" her mother's whisper was just about heard by the girl before she fell asleep.

# # # # #

"Are you alright?" asked Saghi.

"I am now" Naomi replied. "I think I just need to be on my own for a few minutes" and Saghi and the Kai left Naomi alone for a few minutes. The girl came out and she arranged to pick up the Kai the following morning before she headed back to Deep Space Nine. A quick call to _Voyager_ was made and Icheb said that tours were ongoing to everyone on the station. Naomi asked him to tell Kira that she would be bringing the Kai onboard _Voyager_ the next day. Saghi and Naomi went back to Saghi's house where Naomi received a Bajoran style massage. However, as Saghi was kneeding oil into the space between Naomi's legs, Naomi accidentally had an orgasm which had thoroughly mortified and embarrassed her.

#

The tour went well, but time caught up with the ship and Naomi personally escorted the Kai and Saghi off the ship and back onboard Deep Space Nine – a slight change of plans due to an emergency - before heading up to the bridge. She stepped off the turbolift to see every remaining crewmember on the bridge.

"Report" she said.

"Work crews have completed de-storing of all supplies and munitions" Icheb said. "The rest of the crew have disembarked" he added.

"All decks not in use have been secured" Mezoti said.

"Engineering is under computer control" put in Azan.

"All stations are fully operational" Rebi finished the report.

"Thank you all" Naomi said. "I wish we could keep on going, but at least this ship isn't going to be scrapped" the girl looked around at the bridge and her friends. "Lets get this over with. Departure stations" and they took their places on the bridge.

"Incoming message from Starfleet" Azan said.

"On screen" and the image of Deep Space Nine was replaced with the face of the new Federation President – a Trill.

"Captain Wildman" the Trill greeted her.

"Madam President" Naomi replied.

"_I know you must be busy, however I wished to speak to you before you started your homeward leg_" the dark haired woman replied. "_Thanks to what you brought back with you, you helped to end a terrible and costly war. You brought back scientific data that nobody in the Alpha Quadrant could think of, returned medical advances that saved countless lives and you have earned the gratitude of the entire Federation_"

"Thank you, Madam President. We were just doing our job, and this ship's primary purpose" Naomi said.

"_At your discretion, no authority will supersede your own on the final cruise of the starship_ Voyager" the President said.

"Understood" Naomi replied.

"I look forward to meeting you in, this one last time" and with that she vanished from the screen.

"A little abrupt, don't you think?" asked Icheb.

"What do you expect?" asked Mezoti, "She is a politician" and there was a little laughter at that. Azan's console chirped once more as another message came in.

"_This is Colonel Kira. I wish you and your crew a safe journey home, Captain Wildman_"

"Thank you, Colonel" Naomi said.

"Voyager_ is number one on the list, and is cleared to depart_" the Bajoran said.

"Understood._ Voyager _is cleared to depart" Naomi said. She wanted everything to go by the book on this one last undocking.

"_May the Prophets smile upon you_" Kira voiced a good luck saying.

"And on you, Colonel. Voyager, for the final time, out" and with that Naomi closed the link and sighed to herself. "Shall we be off? Azan, detach umbilicals and standby to unlock the airlock" and Azan confirmed everything.

"Standing by for your order" he said.

"Unlock the airlock. Mezoti move us away from the station – 50 KPH" Naomi said, and there was a slight shudder as the airlock was released and _Voyager_ floated free of the station.

"Holding at 50 metres" Naomi said.

"Slow ahead, and do a complete circuit of the station" Naomi said. The ship took a victory tour of the station it had set out from so many years before, and Mezoti brought the ship back to its original heading.

"The station is arming weapons" Icheb said from tactical.

"What?" Naomi was surprised, and they all watched as the station fired torpedoes in a group of seven, then a group of four, then one of six, then one of five before a final volley of six. It had fired the torpedoes in the ship's registry code as a salute.

"That was nice of them" said the Doctor, leaning on the handrail to the right of the bridge.

"Set course for Earth" Naomi ordered, "Warp 5" and with a few pushes of a few buttons, the ship jumped to warp once more. "Do what you want" she ordered, "We're not doing anything important. Icheb, you have the bridge" and with that she and Mezoti departed the bridge together.

"Is Naomi alright?" asked her father.

"She is losing a part of herself in a short while" the Doctor said, "I don't think she wants to leave at all" and he watched as Greskrendtregk hurried off to speak to his daughter.

# # # # #

Greskrendtregk had talk to Naomi about seeing his wife and her mother in the vision, and he was pleased that his daughter finally had some closure from the whole events surrounding her death six years before. The last few days were filled with a kind of morbid cheer. They were of course happy enough to be returning to Earth, but sad to know this would be the last time their ship would move under its own power, and to feel the solar winds on its hull. They had a meal together in the mess hall, and everyone tried to put on a brave face. A number of messages came in from other Starfleet ships, bases and officers and crew alike. Entire planets sent their best wishes to a ship only one iota less well known then any of the _Enterprise_s.

"So, Icheb" Greskrendtregk said. "Have you any idea where you are going after we dock?" he asked of the Brunali.

"I have three weeks leave , then I am to report to the _USS Dragon_ as Chief Astrometric Officer" he replied. "It will… not be the same though" and they knew he meant working in Astrometrics on _Voyager_.

"What about you two?" Greskrendtregk asked of the twins.

"We have been asked to take part in the year's symposium on Costa III" Azan said.

"A number of people will be coming to hear of our discoveries" added Rebi.

"I've got a job working at Starfleet Academy" Mezoti said. "I'm doing some teaching until I am old enough to enter the Academy. What about you, Naomi?" she asked her friend.

"Starfleet has offered me a number of courses to take alongside this year's final year of Cadets" Naomi said. "I thought it might be fun to see what goes on there, and make new friends and stuff like that" and they finished the meal on a happier note.

# # # # #

Azan held the watch on the deserted bridge, and only the helm, science and operations consoles were lit up and working. He liked it when it was a little quiet, and so he used the time to go through his notes for the presentation he and his twin were to give. To his surprise, the science console twittered for attention, and he crossed over and studied the readout. According to sensors, they were picking up a distress call from a freighter under attack by Orion pirates. Warp and impulse drives were out, and they had limited weapons. Hull integrity was down to below fifty percent, and they didn't know how long they could last for. Azan spent a few moments to think about his decision, and then acted upon what he knew to be the right choice.

"Computer, alter course to intercept the location of the distress call. Increase speed to Warp 8. Red Alert. Bring shields up to full power" and it was a few moments after when Naomi called the bridge.

"_Whats the idea, Azan_?" she asked.

"We are picking up a distress call from a freighter under attack by pirates. We are the only vessel within range to assist. The ship has lost warp and impulse, has limited combat capability and has not gone long left in it" Azan said.

"_You did the right thing_" Naomi told him. "_I am on my way_" and she closed the channel.

"_Red Alert_" intoned the computer over the alarms. "_Red Alert, Red Alert. This is not a drill. All hands on deck. Man your battlestations. All hands on deck. Man your battlestations. Red Alert. Red Alert. This is not a drill_" and seconds later the others poured out of the cramped turbolift and took stations.

"Time to intercept?" Icheb asked.

"Seven minutes" Azan replied.

"What are we going to do?" asked the Doctor. "This ship doesn't have anything to shoot with. The torpedoes were offloaded back at Deep Space Nine, and Starfleet put locks on the phasers while we were at Starbase 375" he added.

"Well we better have something to shoot with" Naomi said. "Icheb, you go with Azan and Rebi down to phaser control and remove the safeties. Doctor, take Operations. Mezoti, take tactical. Dad?" Naomi looked up at her father. "I want you to take the helm please" and Greskrendtregk nodded sharply before rushing off and sitting at the console. Mezoti took a few moments to power up the shut down tactical station, but reported she had a working station once more.

"Coming up on the location" said the Doctor.

"Drop us out of warp" Naomi said.

"Aye" said her father. On the viewscreen, the stars blured as _Voyager_ dropped out of warp smoothly and saw the damaged freighter being pounded by the Orion pirate vessel.

"Open a channel" Naomi said.

"Channel open" said the Doctor.

"This is Captain Naomi Wildman of the Federation Starship _Voyager_ halt and stay where you are. Do not attempt to escape, or you will be fired upon. I order you to surrender your vessel and prepare to be boarded" but the only reply was for the Orions to fire upon the ship. "Bridge to phaser control. Have we got those things off yet?" Naomi asked.

"Just getting the last one off" said Icheb.

"Have Azan and Rebi divert battery power to the phasers. We can get a quicker charge rate that way" Mezoti said.

"_Aye_"

"Orion vessel is turning towards us" Mezoti said.

"Do we have phaser power?" Naomi asked.

"Not yet" came the reply, and at that moment the Orions launched a barrage of weapons fire at _Voyager_.

"Hard to starboard" Naomi called. "Evasive pattern Naomi 2"

"Right" Greskrendtregk said. _Voyager_ turned to port and then began a series of complicated turns and rotations in a cone shape. This distracted the targeting computers on the attacking ship, and was a practice adopted by most starship commanders within Starfleet.

"Phasers coming online" Mezoti said. "Estimate three minutes until power is sufficient to effect damage" she added.

"Doctor, status of the freighter" Naomi asked.

"They have suffered decompression in sections. I am reading multiple casualties in the sections still holding atmosphere. Warp drive is offline, impulse drive is down and hull integrity is down to 30 percent. Sensors show a radiation…" the ship shuddered as the shields absorbed another set of impacts. "… a radiation leak in the aft section due to a damaged throttle assembly. Forcefields are containing it though for the time being" the hologram said.

"Dispatch a message to Starfleet" Naomi ordered, "And inform them of the situation and request instructions" and the Doctor nodded and set to work sending the message.

"One minute to half phaser power" Mezoti said.

"Dad, bring us about and put us on a direct course for the Orion ship. By the time we have got to within optimal damage range, we'll have enough phaser power to shoot back" Naomi said, and her father could see what his daughter was thinking of.

"If I may suggest something?" Greskrendtregk said. "We should wait until they fire another load of torpedoes at us. When they hit, we cut main power and started drifting. To them it will look as if they got a lucky shot in, and they'll close in for the kill. At that point, we'll restore main power and fire at a surprised vessel" and Naomi grinned.

"Father, I like your style…" and she passed the idea on to Icheb.

"I may be able to get something more then phasers for you" he said.

"Oh?" the entire bridge wondered what Icheb was going to pull out of the hat.

"Although all of our torpedoes were offloaded back at Deep Space Nine, we still have a number of probes aboard. Given enough time, I believe that I, with the help of Azan and Rebi, could bleed off a little material from the Matter and Anti Matter tanks. I should be able to give you two torpedoes" and the half human girl smiled.

"Icheb, I could kiss you" she said.

"Could you save it until later?" Icheb asked dryly, and then closed the channel quickly.

"Phasers now at 50%" Mezoti said.

"Target Orion vessel and fire" Naomi said, and the phaser lanced out from the ship for the first time in the engagement. The Orion's shields flared as they absorbed the phasers with little effort.

"What the hell…?" Naomi swore gently.

"Incoming torpedoes" the Doctor said.

"Now!" Naomi called, and main power was cut and Greskrendtregk slowly spun the ship to appear as if it was out of control.

"Orion pirate vessel closing in" Mezoti said. "25,000 kilometres and closing. 20,000… 15,000… they have entered transporter range for their class of ship" she said. "They are lowering shields for transport" she said.

"Shields up!" Naomi ordered. "Lock phasers on and fire at will" and the ship took the Orions hook, line and sinker into the deception. Phasers lashed out at the unprotected hull of the pirate vessel, and deep scorching appeared in the hull plating.

"Miss Wildman, I have noticed something odd about that ship. It appears to have the same hull plating that the Section 31 _Defiant_s had" the Doctor said.

"What?" Naomi and Mezoti were both scandalised at that. Had the group sold the Orions the hull plating? Or was the ship led by the last of the rogue group?

"Composition matches exactly to what was on the hulls of the ships. They are carrying the same ablative armour as they did" the Doctor said. "Further more, I am reading a lot of modern Starfleet equipment onboard the ship. Type XII phaser banks, Quantum torpedoes, Borg derived shielding…" and Naomi wondered what Nechayev had been doing all that time.

"Tactical analyis" she said. "Dad, get us outside phaser range for Type XII phasers" Naomi added.

"52 phaser strips and phaser cannons, 12 photon torpedo launchers, 24 Quantum launchers, Borg derived shielding, Klingon disruptor banks, Romulan plasma torpedoes…"

"She's a predator" Greskrendtregk said softly.

"Bridge to Icheb. Icheb, we really need those torpedoes" Naomi said.

"_I need two more minutes to transfer the material_"

"Well I hope that you have been listening in to our discovery" Naomi said.

"I have" Icheb replied. "Two torpedoes will not do enough damage against that armour" he added.

"True, but they might think that there is more from where they came" Naomi said.

"Message from Starfleet" the Doctor said. "They have dispatched three _Akira_ class vessels to our location. We're to continue to distract the attention of the Orion pirate vessel until then" and Mezoti shook her head.

"What do they think we've been doing?" she asked.

"Icheb? Did Starbase 375 leave the Borg weapons intact?" Naomi suddenly realised they had extra firepower.

"They put several locks on" he replied. "They were installed for the museum so they could not be fired accidentally"

"When are you ready with them torpedoes?" asked Naomi as the Orion vessel raked _Voyager_ with a mixture of phaser and torpedo fire.

"Right now" came the reply.

"Launchers 1 and 2 loaded and ready to fire" Mezoti said.

"Icheb, take the twins and get down to Engineering and remove the safety packages from the Borg weapons" Naomi ordered.

"Understood. Icheb out"

"Shields down to 64%" Mezoti said as they were hit again.

"Dad, bring us about and put us on a direct course to ram the Orion pirate vessel. Doctor, scan the ship and determine the weakest point of the shields. Mezoti, once you have that location, target every last firecracker at that spot. Hopefully they will stay at range. Status of the freighter?" Naomi snapped off one thing after the other.

"They have ejected the damaged throttle assembly" the Doctor said, then switched sensors to the Orion pirate vessel. "They have suffered no deaths at all. I suspect that the Orions were trying to take the crew alive to use as slaves" he added with disgust.

"Phaser power now at 100%" Mezoti said.

"Target that vessel and fire a continuous beam until it leaves the current arc" Naomi said. It was a tactic that they had used fighting the Norcadian vessels years ago in the nebula in the Delta Quadrant. It was generally used as a last resort by Captains because it normally burned out the phaser bank more rapidly and often led to burst EPS lines.

"I have located the weakest part of their shields" the Doctor said. "Despite their use of advanced technology, they are using an older system of impulse drive. It requires them to lower their shields every 15 minutes to release the built up plasma. Otherwise if they fired aft weaponry, then they risk setting off an explosion which would cripple that entire section of the ship" he explained.

"When will they lower it again?" Naomi asked him.

"In four minutes" replied the hologram.

"Dad, get us behind the Orion vessel and stick to their backsides like piles" Naomi said.

"Right" he smirked as he thought that particular order had never been given on the bridge of starship before.

"Mezoti, the moment they lower those shields, fire everything we have" and Mezoti targeted the impulse manifold three times just to be certain it was going to be a good shot.

"Engineering to Bridge" Icheb called up.

"Bridge. Go ahead" Naomi said.

"I don't know how to explain this, but the entire power transfer system has been removed from the Borg weapon conduits" Icheb said, sounding completely confused.

"What? How?" exclaimed every member of the bridge.

"It seems as if somebody removed them with a plasma torch. We can see the burnt edges clearly" Azan said over the link.

"But why…?" wondered Naomi.

"Captain, we've been sabotaged" Rebi added his contribution.

"Is there anything that you can do?" Greskrendtregk asked.

"It would take some time to replicate new parts and install them. I am more concerned as to how this was done. I can only assume the weapon discharge network was disabled somehow" Icheb said. The ship shook as another volley hit the ship, and Greskrendtregk brought the ship round to keep station aft of the pirate vessel.

"Never mind that" Naomi said at last. "Stay there and get our shields up to more power"

"Shields at 43% Mezoti said.

"And do it quickly" added Naomi.

"Shields are beginning to change formation on the enemy ship" the Doctor said.

"Aft shields are lowering on the Orion" Mezoti said.

"Reconfirm target and fire" Naomi said. The phasers fired at full power and the lone pair of torpedoes burst from the launchers and impacted on the impulse engines. They caused a terrific explosion, blew the engines out and knocked the Orion vessel off kilter a great deal. The lights seemed to blink as power was disrupted for a few seconds.

"Phaser malfunction" Mezoti said.

"Three vessels entering sensor range" Greskrendtregk said. "They have a Starfleet signature" he added.

"Orion vessel is powering up her warp drive" the Doctor said.

"They can't get away" Naomi said.

"We should jump to warp" Mezoti said. "If we pass right over them as we pass the light speed barrier, then our warp field would graze their shields and knock off their main power"

"Do it" Naomi ordered. "Just set course as this one and engage at Warp 1" and her father nodded and jumped the ship to warp for a few moments. It went exactly as Mezoti said it would have done, and the hulking Orion pirate vessel was left floating with minimal life support. They couldn't even use their auto destruct device because that had been knocked out as well. "Damage report" Naomi called.

"Shields are recharging to full strength, phaser malfunction has cleared" Mezoti said.

"Apart from the sabotage in Engineering, we are otherwise fully operational" the Doctor said.

#

The three Starfleet ships arrived minutes later to take the Orions into custody and to begin the rescue of the crew of the freighter. Naomi remarked that despite _Voyager_ being made weapons inactive, they still were able to put up a fight. Greskrendtregk commented that the ship had wanted to bow out after a victory against impressive odds. After handing over the Orions, _Voyager _swung around and resumed her journey home. With the helm on automatic, everyone pitched in to replace the damaged power systems, and then just jettisoned the damaged parts into space. After that was done, Naomi was told that she wasn't allowed near the shuttlebay for a while, and the girl wondered what was going on in there. All she knew were Mezoti's assurances it was a tribute unit. Naomi had then consulted the computer for more information, but it couldn't give her any clues.

"Cosmic thoughts, my daughter?" Greskrendtregk asked Naomi. They were in the quarters that Naomi and her mother had shared, and latterly home to Naomi and Mezoti.

"The ship doesn't want to stop" Naomi said. "She is fully operational and combat capable. This is still a state of the line starship…" she trailed off. Her father put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

"I am sure that is the case, but this is a ship of legend and legends. She can be of more use in helping to teach millions of people all about the work the crew did, plus your adventures and exploits in getting her home. She has earned her retirement and rest, Naomi" he said, and the girl nodded.

"Bridge to Captain"

"Naomi here"

"We are just about to drop out of warp. We thought you might want to be present for that" said Rebi.

"We're on our way, Naomi out". She looked around her quarters for what she thought would the final time. "Bye, Mom" and with that she picked up the last few bags of hers and walked out the quarters with her father holding her hand.

"Remember this, Naomi" Greskrendtregk said as they waited for the turbolift. "No matter what you have said and done, you have done your duty. You should take pride in that" and they boarded the car that would take them to the bridge.

#

"CAPTAIN ON THE BRIDGE!" Icheb called loudly, and he, Mezoti and the twins snapped to attention. They knew well the significance of the event, and they wanted to do things as they should be. It had involved studying Starfleet protocols once more, but they had enough time on the goodbye tour they had completed. They had taken the stations to which they were used to: Mezoti at Tactical, Azan at Ops, Rebi at Engineering, the Doctor was at the aft consoles but Icheb was standing in front of the Captain's chair however.

"As you were" Naomi said. "Status report" she asked Icheb.

"We are proceeding on course to Spacedock. Decommissioning is expected to take place at 14:30 this afternoon. Warp and Impulse are working at optimum levels. All systems and all stations show a green board" Icheb said.

"I relieve you"

"I am relieved" Icheb replied.

"Mr Icheb, the helm if you please" Naomi indicated Tom Paris's old station that had formerly been filled by Di'et.

"Standing by for your order" Icheb said as he sat at the console.

"Drop out of warp" Naomi said, and she thought she could sigh as the ship slowed to normal space. "Secure Warp drive and disengage nacelle controls" and Rebi took the drive offline.

"Deploying tribute" Azan said without bidding, and the viewscreen flashed up to show an view looking over the aft of the ship. _Voyager_ was trailing a massive decommissioning pennant from just after of the bridge.

"We thought it was fitting" Mezoti said.

"I love it" Naomi said. "Thank you very much" and a tear slid down from one eye.

"Your orders, Captain?" asked Icheb.

"One half impulse until we approach Spacedock" Naomi said.

"Aye, Captain" and Icheb pushed the ship on. _Voyager_ should have been heading in under full impulse, but he knew that Naomi wanted to let the ship have her head as long as possible. Besides, he was only following the orders the she gave to him after all. "Estimate Spacedock in four hours, present speed" Icheb added, looking at the console to check.

"Indulge yourself, Icheb" Naomi said, and Icheb nodded before taking the ship round the entire system, and then heading in towards the gigantic space station that dated all the way back to the time of the original _Enterprise_.

"We are being hailed" Azan said.

"Open a channel" said Naomi.

"Voyager_, this is Spacedock control_"

"Control, this is _Voyager_. Request permission to dock" Naomi said.

"_Permission granted. You are cleared for entry, and you have clearance to pilot your ship manually_" the unseen male voice said.

"Understood"

"_Doors opening in 30 seconds. Be advised that traffic is in operation across your docking path_. _Welcome home_, Voyager"

"_Voyager_ confirms" Naomi said.

"Would you care to take the helm?" Icheb turned in his seat to look back at his friend.

"I relieve you" Naomi said, moving to take his seat.

"I am relieved" Icheb said, and moved to stand to the right of the helm. Naomi piloted the starship through the doors and skilfully avoided the small flitters and shuttles that danced around like fireflies. Azan rotated the viewscreen through multiple different views of the various viewing ports – filled with Starfleet officers and crew plus a large number of civilians.

"500 Metres from docking port" said Mezoti.

"Umbilicals are standing by" Azan reported. Naomi slowed _Voyager_ down to nearly a crawl as she lined up with the target on the airlock.

"200 Metres" Mezoti said.

"All stop" Naomi said, tapping her console to cut power to the impulse drive. "Our inertia should do the rest" and the computer played the traditional whistle noise when a ship left or arrived at a dock. With barely any noticeable effect, _Voyager_ mated airlocks with the station and came to a rest.

"Attaching umbilical supports" Rebi said, and tapped his console three times.

"Secure all drive systems. Power down the main deflector and set the SIF to stationary" Naomi said. She got a chorus of affirmatives as they completed the last few tasks.

"Ready to switch over to Spacedock power supply" Rebi said.

"Very well. Do the switch" Naomi said, and as Rebi did so, the lights on the bridge flickered off and on again. The girl had the sudden feeling that she had felt _Voyager_ dying. "Secure all stations, and transfer all remaining data over to the Spacedock mainframe" Naomi said, fingered the helm and got up to face her friends and her father. "It was an honour to sail with you. Clear the bridge please" and they nodded and took two turbolifts off the bridge. Naomi was the last one off, and her final sight was that of the lights going to minimum levels.

# # # # #

The empty _USS Voyager_ lay in the docking bay a few dozen metres from the gathering in the airlock bay. Naomi was wearing one of her mother's old uniforms to mark the occasions, her father, Mezoti, Azan and Rebi wore formal clothing whilst the Doctor and Icheb wore the current uniform.

"Permission to get started" Naomi asked Admiral Paris.

"You have my permission to start" replied the Admiral. He held no problems with what Naomi had done during the fight with Section 31 the previous year. During the Dominion War, he had not seen combat outside visual records. Having been put slap bang into not just a fight, but a situation where he had to order ships to fire on their own side, had caused his mind to cease working useful thoughts.

"Aye, Aye" Naomi said, and turned back – mindful of the many news network cameras hovering around the enormous bay. "Crew, Attention To Orders. Pursuant to Starfleet order 5012616, we have been directed to decommission _NCC 74656 – USS Voyager_. All departments report department status" the girl ordered.

"The sails have been removed and rigging tied up" Icheb said.

"The cannons have unlimbered and spiked" said Mezoti.

"The decks have been secured" Azan said.

"The Sick berth has the saws locked away" the Doctor said.

"All lamps and running lights have been extinguished" Rebi said.

"Captain, all departments have reported their status" Icheb said. "We are ready to decommission the ship" he went on.

"Very well, XO" Naomi said. "Carry on" and Icheb reached out to a small bell and struck eight bells.

"Secure the watch!" he called. Naomi turned back to Admiral Paris and saluted in the old Earth naval style.

"Admiral Paris, the lights have been put out and the watch has been secured. Permission to carry on" she asked.

"Granted" Paris said.

"Admiral Paris. Please accept the _USS Voyager_'s log book as token of proof she is now decommissioned" Naomi handed over a real leather hardcopy of every Captain's log made, as well as those made by the acting captain and the first officer's. It was made from actual paper and leather, and it had been made by a small company that made books in the old style before PADDS became the normal. It normally dealt with those who liked real books, history buffs or museums, but Naomi had given them the task to created an actual copy of the log. The leather was a scarlet red with gold edges on the front, spine and back. In the same gold colouring bore the legend:

_Captain's Log_

_USS VOYAGER_

_NCC 74656_

_No matter where you go, there you are_

"I accept this token of proof" said Paris, taking the log from her and putting it under his arm tightly. "You may dismiss your crew" he informed her.

"Aye, Aye, Sir" Naomi said, and spun on her booted heel to face her friends. "Crew, about your duties… Dismiss!" and there was applause at a successful ceremony. Four weeks ago, they had retired the _USS Adelphi_ but when transferring from the ship to the station, the computer had concluded it had an atmospheric loss and refused to open the inner airlock. They had to use the transporters to beam the crew off the ship until the computer could be reprogrammed. As the group were swallowed up by the invited senior officers, Naomi turned back once more to look at _Voyager_ sitting in the bay. Across from her was one of the brand new _Legacy_ class ships. From the angle she was viewing them from, it looked as if _Voyager_ was speaking towards the newer ship.

'_I've been out there, fought, battled, loved, lost, explored and done things you can't imagine. Now it is your turn_"

"If you don't hurry up" said the Doctor gravely, "Then Icheb will have finished the cheese and crackers by himself" and with a shared laugh, the pair of them left the viewing window and went to join the throng of guests, holocams and tables with food and drink on it.

# # # # #

The _Intrepid_ class starship, _USS Voyager_, completed her final cruise on Stardate 59174. During her eleven years of service she took part in hundreds of major engagements, discovered new species, conducted surveys into nebulas and gas clouds, charted the path it took along through the Delta Quadrant and overcame the odds and, although most of her compliment was murdered, brought her remaining crew home in more or less one piece. Since the day she docked, _Voyager_ never moved an inch but became a museum piece, with tours given everyday to anybody who requested to be in one. The ship became a legend in its own right. And people queued for ages to look at Captain Janeway's ready room, the heart of the ship down in Engineering, Mess Hall, crew quarters, Sickbay… all over the ship.

Icheb took his leave and then went to his next posting on the _Dragon_ and made a name for himself as part of the first ship to chart the former Dominion held territory in the Gamma Quadrant. His assignment lasted three long years, but he never missed the annual broadcast of the wreath laying at the Return.

Azan and Rebi became talented engineers, and they soon became a well respected pair of names in the design and testing of advanced systems for starships. Because of innovations they created using their detailed knowledge kept from their days as Borg drones, they designed new and better ways to refit starships for the best value for money.

The Doctor spent years working on using the cures he had developed in Delta Quadrant. Terminal illnesses could now be solved within a matter of days. The hologram launched the first medical ship to have an entire medical department made up of holograms – though not made for self awareness in this case. He eventually married a Betazoid woman, and the couple adopted a boy and a girl because they could never have children because of the Doctor's holographic nature. According to his wife, the Doctor had chatted her up and then, with lust filled eyes asked "I bet you can't tell what I'm thinking, can you?" to which she had replied, "You're a hologram, and I still know what you are thinking, and the answer is yes" but a night of passion was interrupted when his wife had accidentally switched off the EMH in the middle of a rather enjoyable activity.

Mezoti went on to become a talented planetary specialist and a renowned target shooter with any number of weapons. She did a few years teaching at Starfleet Academy before taking a long holiday with her wife, Naomi Wildman. After they had returned, Mezoti entered the Academy and graduated at the top of the class.

Naomi did a year at the Academy, before taking a post at Utopia Planetia's First Flight team. Her job was to lead a skeleton crew on the first flight of a new starship to see what needed adjusting or outright replacing before the ship was put into service. Since Mezoti's revelation that she loved her, they had stayed good friends indeed. However, Naomi's feelings did change as she hit the human age for puberty and she came out to her father that she was bi-sexual and fancied her best friend. Gresnedik, putting a lot of family teachings behind him, told his daughter that he didn't mind or care whom she was with, so long as she was safe and happy in the relationship. Their first night together was a little awkward, but they soon fell into a deep and loving relationship that lasted through the years. However, one thing that Mezoti could not get her wife to do, was step onboard the ship. As she grew into her teenaged years, Naomi kept her stubborn streak, and kept turning down invite after invite to conduct some of the tours.

It would be 15 years before Captain Naomi Wildman stepped foot on the decks of _Voyager_ again.

**A/N:  
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**And yes, before you ask, that does leave the door ajar for a 4****th**** in the series.**

**Well I hoped you liked the final chapter of this story – I know I've worked long and hard on it. At least I can (at time of writing) go on my trip. Of course, by the time you've read this I will have most likely gone on it already.**

**Now before people flame me, I think you will see the point that I was taking a little headache relief. I also wanted to put **_**that**_** someplace in the story, but was never able to until now.**

**Well then, now the story is complete your best bits please.**

**For the final time in this story, your reviews please – **

**Regards**

**Pixel**


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